A disappointed Ian Bates vowed to add to his Wembley squad over the summer in the wake of Monday night’s Middlesex Charity Cup defeat to Uxbridge.

Bates’ underdogs were left to rue a series of early missed chances as they went down 3-1 to their neighbours from higher up the pyramid.

The men of Vale Farm also narrowly missed out on a top five finish in the Combined Counties Premier Division and bowed out of the league cup in the semi-finals as fixture congestion caught up with them.

It meant boss Bates’ glass was definitely half empty as he reflected on near misses and the need to beef up his playing staff ahead of another push next year.

Middlesex Charity cup final between Wembley and Uxbridge.

He said: “With the knowledge I’ve got of football with the amount of games I’ve played and the facilities we’ve got to train on and work on things, I’m really disappointed we did not finish in the top five, that we lost on Monday and got beaten in the semi-final of the league cup by a team from the league below.

“We need just a few more bodies really, but I’m always disappointed. If you don’t win every game, win cups or win the league you can always do better.

“The squad has got to be bigger, so that is what I’ve got to do over the summer, just to share the workload around the team really.”

Wembley could have had the silverware on Monday but for a glut of missed opportunities in the first 20 minutes, with Joe Wright the main culprit.

Consequently, Bates was not buying the plucky loser tag, insisting they could and should have produced the giant-killing, before abandoning their normal style of play while chasing the game in the second half.

He added: “I expected to beat them today. We had done our homework on them and went to a 4-1-4-1 and we should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up before they scored.

“I think we lost a bit of our shape and pattern in the second half. We could have kept it a bit better and pulled them out a bit.

Middlesex Charity cup final between Wembley and Uxbridge

“We went to what they are used to every week and what they play, which is the long ball, so I was disappointed with the players for doing that because usually we play football.

“I’m not being harsh on the boys because we can play better. It does not matter what league you play against, if you get it down and pass it and do it quickly they are going to struggle to contain you.

“Maybe it is a bit of fatigue kicking in which affected our movement off the ball, where it has usually been good.”