JAMIE O’Hara insists he will not change the way he asks his Billericay Town side to play despite pitches deteriorating at this time of year.

Since taking over as player-manager in September, O’Hara has excited Billericay supporters with a new style of play.

And, although Town exited the FA Trophy in controversial circumstances following a 2-1 third qualifying round defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough on Tuesday, O’Hara’s side will continue keeping the ball on the deck rather than taking the aerial route to goal.

O’Hara said: “I will never change the way we play because I believe it gets results on any pitch.

“We should have got the result against Hampton and we played some fantastic stuff.

“Obviously, I want to play on better pitches and hopefully we can get our pitch sorted out.

“We work so hard to get the ball into the final third and that is where you want your star players to make something happen, but it’s so hard for them because they can hardly stand up.”

Former Billericay captain Dean Inman, who played a key role in the club winning the treble in 2018, shortly before the hour mark.

However, Jake Robinson levelled matters from close range and went in search for the winner.

Inman was heavily involved in the key moment of the contest as the central defender appeared to bring down Bristol Rovers loanee Deon Moore.

But the referee waved away the appeals for a penalty and Hampton went on the counter-attack, with Tyrone Lewthwaite landing the decisive blow three minutes from time.

And O’Hara was left frustrated by the officials failing to award a spot-kick.

“It’s a blow but we are moving in the right direction,” added O’Hara.

“I thought we were outstanding and played some brilliant football.

“To be honest, I couldn’t fault the boys’ character.

“We were robbed because we should have been given a stonewall penalty when we were dominating the game.

“The referee didn’t give it and the boys couldn’t believe it.

“They counter-attacked, got in behind and scored.

“It was an unbelievable decision and I was totally disappointed in the referee, to be honest.”