BOSS Brendon King admitted Hammers “let themselves down” as they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Thatcham Town.

Facing off in the first qualifying round against their Hellenic Premier opposition at the County Ground, the hosts were humbled in a resounding 5-1 defeat.

A first-half opener from Thatcham’s Shane Cooper-Clark gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at the break, before the floodgates opened in the second period.

Joe Blount made it 2-0 five minutes after half-time before Cooper-Clark recorded his second of the afternoon to virtually seal the tie.

Josh Helmore struck a fourth before Mark Ford pulled a goal back for Hammers late on when he was played in by Edgar Zanin.

But Thatcham weren’t finished and it was left to Anthony White to fire home a fifth, leaving King’s charges to bow out of the cup.

The Hammers manager told the Daily Echo: “We had a decent crowd there and I said to the boys to go out there and have no regrets.

“We were found wanting and just didn’t play like we had been doing.

“I said to them after I felt that they let themselves down. They are better than that, so it disappointed me.

“At the end of the day they were better than us and they thoroughly deserved it.

“When you play at that level you need all 11 out on the pitch playing at the top of their game.

“You cannot carry four or five players and that was what we were doing.

“I don’t know if the occasion got to them or previous game took a little bit out of us but they started the brighter, got on the front foot quicker and we were at sixes and sevens at times.”

Hammers: Knights, D Randall, N Walker, Montacute, Filkins (Ford, 60), Gleeson, B Walker, Preston (Nicolson, 75), Hodge, Smith, Swann (Zanin, 60). Unused Subs: B Randall, Clarke.