Furious Crawley boss Francis Vines slammed his team after this embarrassing FA Cup exit and accused some players of "nicking a living".

Reds lost at home against a side two divisions and 30 places below them in the fourth qualifying round.

Defeat will inevitably lead to more speculation about the future of Vines and the rumour mill is already working overtime about possible replacements.

But leftback Neil Jenkins said: "People always look at the manager when things go badly but it was not his fault, it was the players'.

"Everyone would have picked the same 11 players as he did for the game, it was up to us to perform.

"He shouldn't be under pressure, it is us players who should be under pressure because we know we let people down."

Ryman premier division Braintree were gifted the winner after an amazing misjudgement by goalkeeper Scott Ward.

The boos rang out at the final whistle as home fans made clear what they thought about one of the worst results and performances witnessed at the Broadfield Stadium for years.

Vines did not mince his words either.

He said: "I could pick out five players who played for the club and the rest didn't have a clue.

"Simon (Wormull) did well before he got injured, Paul Armstrong worked hard, Dave Woozley played well, Chris Giles gave his all and Ben Judge was the best player on the pitch.

"I can look at the rest and think who else played? They should be embarrassed and I think they are nicking a living here at the moment. That is not good enough."

Vines singled out Ward in particular for criticism after his 19th-minute mistake.

Eugene Ofori tried a speculative effort from 20 yards which should have resulted in a comfortable save for the Reds keeper but he left it, thinking it was going wide, and watched in horror as the ball bounced in.

Ward had only been handed the number one jersey last month after Phil Smith was dropped for making too many clangers.

Vines said: "We totally controlled the game for 20 minutes and then Scotty Ward decided to throw in a pathetic effort.

"What he was doing I don't know. It was an absolute disgrace and from then on the rest of the team were a disgrace."

Ward's howler summed up Crawley's dismal display. They enjoyed a good spell before the goal and went close through a superb 25-yard pile-driver by Wormull which smacked the foot of a post.

But then passes went astray, crosses were over-hit and even trapping the ball was at times beyond them.

They ran out of attacking ideas, became increasingly desperate and resorted to long-balls into the box which Braintree's well organised defence dealt with easily.

It could have even been worse for Crawley as Ofori twice threatened again in the late stages when he fizzed a low effort just wide and then blasted straight at Ward from close range.

Braintree boss George Borg got his tactics just right.

He said: "This club had never reached the first round proper in its 100-year history so this is a proud moment for us.

"We watched Crawley against Exeter and Gillingham and decided to keep everything wide going forward because they had two big centre halves and a big keeper, who would have gobbled up every cross.

"It worked, we got the goal and then Crawley had to chase the game. Our goalkeeper is only 19-years-old so we had to protect him but luckily Crawley started using a long ball game which played into our hands."

The only positive for Reds fans was the news that influential midfielder Simon Wormull has not suffered a broken leg as was first thought.

Reports filtered through at half time that Wormull had fractured his tibia after sliding into a tackle with Ofori just before the interval.

However, the injury is likely to keep him out for a while, which along with this result, is the last thing Vines needs with Reds struggling at the foot of the Conference table.

l Bognor had goalkeeper Craig Stoner to thank for a point in a 2-2 Conference south draw against Bishop's Stortford at Nyewood Lane.

Stoner made two superb stops, including one late on to deny Julian Edwards what would have been the winner.

The visitors went ahead on 34 minutes when Richard Howell nodded home from close range after Jack Midson headed back a deep cross.

Rocks equalised in first-half injury time when Ben Watson fired home from just inside the box and they took the lead on 68 minutes through Luke Nightingale after good work by Darren Budd.

But the advantage lasted just two minutes as Dave Rainford scored with a header.