CHORLEY boss Garry Flitcroft said striker James Dean had let the side down if he had deliberately elbowed Halifax’s Simon Ainge in the Magpies FA Cup defeat to the Shaymen.

Dean was given his marching orders after 19 minutes at The Shay as Chorley went down 5-0 in the fourth qualifying round, missing out on a first round tie at home to League One Bradford.

Flitcroft’s side were already 1-0 down at that point against their Conference Premier opponents, but he felt his side had started well until the red card.

“If James Dean has elbowed him, and I maybe think he has in retaliation to the lad ‘doing him’, then I’m gutted that Deano has done that because he’s let us all down,” said Flitcroft.

“You just can’t do things like that, if he has done, and he’s left us in trouble then because the first 25 or 30 minutes of that game we’ve absolutely destroyed them.”

The hosts, who are second in the Conference Premier, extended their advantage on the stroke of half-time and scored three times after the break to run out convincing winners.

“When you go down to 10 men it’s a struggle against a side like Halifax,” said Flitcroft. “We started really well, their keeper kept them in it for the first 20 minutes, even with 10 men we still created chances.

“The disappointing thing for me was the third goal, Teaguey (Andy Teague) has just got to stand up and do better, and the fifth goal we’ve not made a challenge.”

Despite the defeat, and missing out on a first appearance in the first round of the cup for 24 years, Flitcroft said he was proud of his players, and had told them that the target was now promotion from the Conference North, with the Magpies currently fourth in the table.

“I’m proud of my lads, they gave me everything, and it’s just a shame the sending off killed the game,” added Flitcroft.

“I never have to pick them up, they’re a good group of lads. I’ve told them that our main goal is to get promoted this year, we were never going to win the FA Cup, it’s brilliant for the fans and I’d like to say how brilliant those fans were on Tuesday.”