AUCHINLECK Talbot boss Tommy Sloan has urged his players to move on and learn from their Scottish Cup heartbreak.

The East Ayrshire side exited the competition on Saturday as they suffered a 1-0 loss at home to Lowland League outfit Broxburn Athletic.

Sloan described the match as a "missed opportunity" for his side who he felt had the better of the Beechwood Park tie.

Talbot squandered a handful of chances early in the match before Gary Brass headed the visitors ahead from a corner on 26 minutes.

(Image: Craig McGhee)

The home side had further opportunities in the second half but were unable to find a way past Robert Watt in the Broxburn goal.

Sloan commented: “It’s an opportunity missed. I don’t remember our goalie having many saves to make but we are out the cup.

“When you don’t score you can’t really argue, we need to take it on the chin and move on as quickly as possible.

“It wasn’t what we were looking for but there was a good effort there, we just missed our opportunities.

“We should have been maybe one or two up before they scored, but you’ve got to take them.”

The Talbot manager also felt his young side's lack of experience played a role in their defeat - with many of his players yet to experience a run into the latter stages of the competition.

Sloan added: “We had plenty of the match but I think their experience showed – we were a far younger side and that’s the way it looked for long periods.

“With regards to physicality I thought we were a wee bit second best there, I think they got away with a wee bit as well, some challenges that would have been punished on another week.”

(Image: Craig McGhee)

However, Sloan is keen to make sure that his players do not dwell on the result which brought to an end a positive run of form.

Instead, he hopes his players learn from the match and take this into their upcoming run of league fixtures, which begin with the visit of Benburb to Beechwood on Saturday, November 2 - with kick off at 2pm.

He continued: “I thought a lack of experience showed in the game, it wasn’t that they were a better side than us.

“But we are out the cup, that’s cup football for you – we need to learn from it.

“We take it, we move on, and we try and get a win on the board as soon as possible.”