Enfield Town boss Bradley Quinton says he may have to move players on if they rest on their laurels again, following Saturday’s 1-0 FA Trophy defeat at lower-league Dereham Town.

The Mapgies sit ninth in the Isthmian League Division One North, a league below Enfield, and sealed their passage into the second qualifying round of the competition thanks to Sam Borrer’s 78th minute strike.

And Quinton, who was without a handful of players due to various issues, felt those who were given a chance to impress did not do themselves justice.

“We have no excuses,” admitted Quinton. “We had Nathan Livings out, Stanley Muguo was suspended and they are our main central midfielders. I could have played myself in hindsight, but didn’t, because a few of the boys have been knocking on my door [asking for their] opportunity to come in and a few did not really take their chance with both hands.

“It was not one of my teams out there. With how well we have been doing recently, you can’t rest on your laurels.

“Now that people realise we are winning games, you get a lot of attention and people come to watch you and worry about you. In the past with Enfield, people would not come over and watch you because you are fighting relegation or fighting around the bottom.

“Teams are now worried about us and they have got to realise that – and I told them that at half time – otherwise they will find themselves back to where they were or moved on.”

Quinton continued: “We maybe went there thinking it was going to be quite a lot easier than it was. You start on the wrong foot, your mentality is not right, it’s a long journey, they make you warm up out the back on the seven-year-old’s pitch – you can imagine what it was like – but there are no excuses.

“The whole team really did not take their chances and show me they were up for an FA Trophy game, so I was very disappointed in them.”

After enjoying an unbeaten run of nine games prior to Saturday’s loss – including a 3-1 win over league-leaders Margate at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium on Tuesday, Quinton felt his side should have done better.

He said: “After all the hard work and everything they have done so well, to lose our record against a team like Dereham, who no disrespect, we should be beating teams like that and it just was not good enough on the day.

“Stephan Hamilton-Forbes and Neil Cousins are nearly back, so there are a couple of players who will have to be worrying about their positions, so I may have to release a couple. That (Dereham) was some of their chances and it was not good enough. They have been coming to me and I have been saying ‘just bide your time’ and they let themselves down.”

Quinton also paid tribute to forward Liam Hope, who in scoring the third goal against Margate became Enfield’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 107 goals in 230 games for the Towners – surpassing the record previously held by Rudi Hall, who had netted 106 in 151.

“Liam has been exceptional. No-one gets a record like that at any level without being a great player,” enthused Quinton.

“I’ve got a nice big bottle of champagne which I am going to present to him at our next home game from myself and I think the club are doing some stuff for him as well.

“Full credit to Liam, he was superb when he came on Saturday and maybe I should have started him.

“He has been working really hard and he will be back really soon. What an achievement.”