Richard Brady gave some of his fringe players the chance to prove their worth at Leatherhead on Tuesday night – but left disappointed.

The Tanners crashed out of the Surrey Senior Cup at the third round stage 1-0 at South Park, a team two divisions below them in the non-league pyramid that had already disposed of Kingstonian in this year’s competition.

Liam Pestle, Adam Gross and Vernon Francis were all given the night off while Tom Hutchings and Kev Terry started on the bench, with Elliott Thompson, Rob Hill, Jerry Nnamani and Greg Andrews given the chance to impress while Gary Drewett made his return after a three-month injury lay-off.

But they failed to take their chance and Brady could not hide his disappointment.

“I played the players that think they should be playing,” he said.

“It was almost like a test for them but they proved to me why they are not playing.

“We didn’t disrespect South Park as I told the boys they would give us a good account but it fell on deaf ears.

“I thought the team I put out against South Park was good enough to win and it was disappointing the players on the fringes didn’t do enough to get off the fringes.

“But it is also a blessing in disguise going out of the cup – the priority is staying in the league.

“We need to catch up with the league games and move on with that now.”

The defeat came on the back of a 3-0 loss at a resurgent East Thurrock United on Saturday which ended a run of five games without defeat for the Tanners and left them firmly in the relegation mire.

But home games against fellow strugglers Hastings United on Saturday and Concord Rangers on Tuesday gives them the perfect chance to start climbing the table again.

“We need to put a run together now and get away from where we are,” added Brady, who looks set to be without new addition Rob Haworth after he strained his hamstring against Thurrock.

“We have been in the relegation zone for too long and we need to get out of it.

“This week is a big week and there is no hiding for our players.

“We had a little dip against East Thurrock and South Park but we turn our attention to Hastings now at the start of a big week.

“The players are used to big games and putting in big performances.”

One piece of good news for the club this week was Francis’s decision to ignore the overtures of several clubs to commit his future to Leatherhead until the end of the season.

“That shows where Vernon thinks we are going,” said Brady.

“He showed his commitment to the club.”