Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale has blamed the absence of senior professionals for failing to make the League Two playoffs this season.
Former Leicester City midfielder Matt Oakley is just one of a number of experienced players on the sidelines, with Tisdale admitting that the club could not cope in the latter stages of the season.
"It's like getting blood from a stone at times. You are trying to conjure up different situations and I would say that losing Matt Oakley in the Gillingham game was a straw too many for us," he told reporters at a press conference.
"Of all the things you can say this year, to go into these final half a dozen games with definite starters and key players injured, was too much. We went into this game with another three missing from last week's team."
Exeter currently sit ninth in the table.
