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Neither side scored in the extra thirty minutes, but misses by Jermaine Wright and Finidi George in the penalty shoot-out ended Town's hopes of a second successive appearance in the third round of the competition.
"It was cruel and we didn't deserve that," said Town boss Royle.
"We were comfortable, they ended up playing route one football with six giants on the pitch.
"In the end, a ball came into our box, it ended up in a skirmish and it might even have gone in off the legs of one of our players.
There's no easy way to lose but we were terrific.The players are very sad but they will get stronger out of that.
"Everyone wanted to take the penalty kicks, but I chose the players I wanted in there. Penalties are a lottery. They can go for you, or against you. The two lads who missed are upset, but that's football.
Now we have to focus on our next league match and put this behind us."