Plymouth Argyle boss Tom Cleverley said he hopes his side will learn from their “lacklustre” Vertu Trophy exit.
The Pilgrims lost 2-1 at Luton Town, in a quarter-final which had been delayed after the Hatters were reinstated earlier this month after having lost to a Swindon Town side that included two ineligible players.
Having conceded early on, Argyle thought they would be taking the game to penalties after Tegan Finn’s 77th-minute equaliser.
But Jordan Clark’s 89th-minute winner from the penalty spot meant a potential return to the final – which Plymouth reached when they last played in the competition in 2023 – was dashed.
“A really lacklustre performance,” was how Cleverley described the loss to BBC Radio Devon.
“I think we’ve got enough trust between us all now that we can be really honest. The reasons why is going to be the thing to take out of tonight.
“What this group of players has done is always learnt from when we’ve fallen short, [and] how to put that better.
“So we need to learn from this evening. I thought we were second best in every area. We didn’t deserve to progress tonight, and there’ll be an honest inquest.
“The players will do that internally, they’ll take enough responsibility to do that, there’ll be conversations amongst themselves, and the disappointing thing was we were outdone at the basics tonight, which has been our really underpinning source of success recently.”
