THE joint manager of the team hammered by Hereford in the HFA County Challenge Cup believes having the Bulls in the competition is still a good thing.

Tenbury United were on the wrong end of a 15-1 annihilation last week and were no match for Hereford at Edgar Street.

The manner of the defeat led to some supporters questioning whether the Bulls should be in the cup in order to give other teams a better chance of winning it.

However, Nick Stocker says that it provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for teams.

"From a Hereford point of view it surely gives the manager and supporters a good opportunity to have a look at some of the younger players that they may have in the squad that would probably not get chance in a league game," said Stocker. "For clubs like Hereford, Lads Club, Westfields and Pegasus, youth development is massive and if they don’t have the opportunity to play then they will just end up being moved on and potential talent being missed.

"And from an opposition manager's point of view, again its only positives.

"Don’t get me wrong the result hurt us a lot and is still hurting, but my boys got to do something that not many people from Tenbury have ever done and that’s to play at Edgar Street against a side that is well above anything that they have faced before.

"When we found out we had Hereford in the Cup, Tenbury went into meltdown.

"The buzz around the club for that couple of weeks was unbelievable and no matter what the result, we will never forget it.

"Not only was this great for the men, but we had 12 little lads come down aged between six and 10 to be mascots for us.

"They will never forget the five minutes they got on the pitch at the start and it will hopefully motivate them to want to do it again, maybe for Hereford.

"Yes, 15-1 was ridiculous and unacceptable, but it has helped to show us how far off we are in certain areas of our game both in ability and tactically.

"No matter what team you face, when you have a defeat you have to try and learn from it.

"Hopefully it will make the boys want to improve and work even harder than they have until now."

HFA chief executive Jim Lambert says all cups are reviewed annually, but there is no plan to look at the County Cup.

"Tenbury tried to be attacking and were 2-0 down within a minute," said Lambert.

"That is what happens sometimes.

"But Tenbury were still happy and that they were treated well."