Harry Wheeler was proud of his Maidstone players for their efforts against Oldham in the FA Cup.

Boss Wheeler felt the Stones matched their League 2 opponents for much of Saturday’s second-round tie.

But a mistake by Alex Finney from a free-kick was punished as Peter Clarke gave the Latics a half-time lead.

And the visitors added a late second when Chris O’Grady beat Will De Havilland and finished from a difficult angle.

Wheeler said: “I’m proud of the lads for their effort and their endeavour they showed.

“We matched them for the majority of the game.

“But I’m disappointed because we spoke all week, just take no risks.

"All the good teams take no risks, they clear their lines, they don’t try and shepherd things out their six-yard box.

“Unfortunately we’ve made a decision to try and keep it in.

“All we’ve got to do is clear the ball and we go in 0-0 at half-time.

“All the good sides at the top of our league and the ones that progress through, they just clear their lines and it’s something that we echo week by week.

“I’ve seen the free-kick for the goal and it’s not actually a free-kick.

“I go on about things but I only go on when they’re actual facts.

“Look at it yourselves, you’ll see it’s not a free-kick.

“But once it is and it’s gone against us, we’ve got to deal with it and it’s only down to us, not the decision of the referee.”

The Stones were missing five important players, including leading scorer and skipper Blair Turgott.

That hit their chances of an upset but Wheeler saw a side who kept working hard.

He said: “They gave everything. I don’t think anyone can say they didn’t run around and didn’t give everything they’ve got.

“It’s a league side that are unbeaten in five, they drew with the top of the league Tuesday night, they won 4-0 the week before, they’re a good side.

“We competed for as long as we could with a depleted squad, with five of them out, but at the same time I said to the lads that got their places, 'keep your shirt' and I thought they did really today. I thought we competed well.

“League sides, the higher you go up, the more clinical they are.

“They finished the two chances they had and we didn’t, and that’s the difference.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's 2-0 defeat by Oldham