DEJECTED Paul Arnold offered an honest appraisal of his side's FA Vase exit after watching his Wimborne side bow out at the quarter-final stage "with a whimper".

The Magpies boss was left to rue a lethargic performance from his troops as AFC Totton booked their place in the last four of the prestigious non-league competition.

Arnold told the Daily Echo: "The boys didn't do themselves justice at all. We'd have rather gone out with a bang than with a whimper.

"It's a disappointing way to go out. If we'd have gone out having a real go and you get beaten, then you can have no complaints.

"But sometimes you get what you deserve if you're not prepared to be brave and take the game to the opposition."

Although Stuart Cannie put Wimborne in command with a first-half strike, Totton hit back early in the second half and eventually sealed their place in the semi-finals with an extra-time winner.

Arnold said: "We did well up until half-time, but I don't think we produced after that - for the second half or extra-time.

"I felt that we were on the back foot, there was no-one looking to take any responsibility and we paid the price. After Totton scored the equaliser, I thought we wilted.

"In those situations, you need people to stand up and be counted and it didn't happen - we didn't get behind their defence for the whole game."

Wimborne's travelling army dominated the 1,309 attendance and Arnold said: "I thought our fans were magnificent and all the boys are disappointed for them that we couldn't give them the result they wanted."

Defender Sam Percival, who had an excellent game at the back, said: "We're all devastated, but I don't know what happened - it just went to pot in the second half.

"We were 1-0 up at half-time and felt we hadn't started playing, so we were all thinking we could go out and improve on that. But we just never got it together."

He added: "It is up to us to draw a line under this now. We're still in the semi-final of the Wessex League Cup. Okay, there is no comparison with the FA Vase, but it's a decent consolation.

"The season's not dead and buried for us - we've still got a lot to play for.

"You've got to look at the positives.

"We've reached the last eight of the Vase, which is a good achievement and we've got to keep our heads up and keep going for the rest of the season."