Lewes chairman Terry Parris has promised to get tough on the players who broke club rules before last weekend's FA Cup tie at Lowestoft.

A number of players ignored a curfew imposed at the hotel where Lewes were staying ahead of the second qualifying round tie which ended in a 2-1 defeat.

The directors are meeting next Tuesday to decide what action to take.

Parris said: "We have a code of conduct at the club which was seriously abused and we are going to make sure it does not happen again.

"They had the luxury of staying overnight so they could be fresh for the game the next day. It was important they had a professional attitude to give themselves every chance of going through to the next round. But instead they have let everyone at the club down which we are all extremely disappointed about."

Parris was hoping Lewes could emulate their FA Cup heroics of two seasons ago when they reached the first round proper for the first time in their history before losing to Stoke City.

He believes the club could have gone far in the competition this year and blames the curfew-breakers for their early exit.

He said: "The manager (Steven King) was forced to change his team for the game because he is very strict about what should happen to the players and did not want to play them. So maybe the result could have been different if it hadn't happened.

"It must be stressed that only a few players were involved and the rest went out and played with a professional attitude and were disgusted by what happened.

"But some don't realise that they do not have many chances to go far in the FA Cup. We thought we could have a good run this year, but they blew it for everyone at the club."

Parris insists the four players released by the club this week were not involved in the incident.

Julian Curnow, who has joined Burgess Hill, Tom Graves, Robert Hughes and Aldershot loanee Anthony Charles all left because of cuts in the playing budget.

Parris added: "We decided before the FA Cup match that the squad was too big and some players unfortunately had to leave.

"We were going to hold a meeting with Steven last Monday regardless of what happened in the FA Cup, so the players who left had nothing to do with the incident.

"If we had won the game and collected the prize money then maybe that would have changed the situation and the players could have stayed. It is unfortunate they had to go and it is not something we like doing, but it was necessary due to financial reasons."

Skipper Michael Birmingham is struggling with an Achilles problem ahead of Bognor's premier division trip to Hendon.

Rocks want to bounce back from last week's cup thrashing by Havant but Birmingham admits it will be tough.

He said: "We lost to Hendon in the Trophy last season and I thought they were the best side we played all year."