Ian Burchnall said there were a lot of "encouraging things" to take from Notts County's performance as they bowed out of the FA Trophy against Wrexham.
The Dragons sealed a 2-1 win at Meadow Lane where James Jones' late winner booked their place in the semi-final.
Notts had taken the lead through Connell Rawlinson which came after Matt Palmer was denied a penalty after being fouled by Bryce Hosannah.
Wrexham eventually equalised before the breakthrough Dan Jarvis but two minutes from the end, Notts came close to a winner when Ed Francis' shot smacked the crossbar.
The visitors then took the lead immediately after when James surged into the box to finish past Slocombe.
With Notts missing a host of key first-team players such as Kyle Cameron, Kyle Wootton and Richard Brindley, head coach Burchnall said he was encouraged by the display.
"We had big players missing, but we were extremely dominant for large parts of the game," he said.
"We were dominant in the first half and they maybe had 10-15 minutes in the second half and then it looked like it was us who were going to win the game.
"We had a couple of good penalty shouts turned down. We hit the bar. But don't get me wrong, Wrexham are a good team.
"You see what they bring on in Palmer and Mullin. Mullin is a very smart player.
"There were a lot of encouraging things in that performance."
Burchnall felt his side should have been awarded a spot-kick when Palmer was fouled and there were also appeals late on when Dion Kelly-Evans went down.
But both were not given and Burchnall said the referee was convinced Palmer's was a fair challenge.
"It's 100 per cent a penalty," he said.
"I've seen it a couple of times back now and there's no question about it.
"I am not really sure what the referee has seen to indicate that it's not.
"But Matty pulls his leg back to take the shot, but it's a definite penalty.
"The referee was still convinced at half-time that it wasn't. He felt it was shoulder to shoulder.
"I don't know about Dion's at the end. It's not as clear as that one, but they are the margins. We've hit the bar we've had two penalties that we could have had.
"They get a little ricochet and it's 2-1. Sometimes that's football.
"We can't dwell on it. We still had enough to win so it is what it is."
