The Demons went down to the Sky Blues at Edensor Park on Wednesday night courtesy of goals from Filip Holosko, David Carney and Bobo. Sydney FC advance to the semi-finals while City were eliminated from the competition.

“Our passing wasn’t great,” Crittenden admitted to FourFourTwo.

“We just turned over too much ball I thought at times, and probably at critical times. There were times when we were maybe just trying to create something, maybe get into their third and the pass would go out for a throw or we’d give it back cheaply.

“But look their effort was great. They never stopped trying, they never stopped running and once again you have to give credit to the other mob.”

Holosko and Carney struck in the first 26 minutes to put the Demons on the backfoot. Bobo added the third in the second half.

“I thought we gave away a cheap goal, and our plan obviously was to stay in the game for as long as we could,” Crittenden said.

“We played a pretty ordinary ball inside and they scored after about 10 minutes which turned the momentum. I thought our momentum in the first 10 minutes was OK and we were going in the way we wanted to go.

“But after that they’re pretty clinical. They were sharp, they were probably a yard quicker over the park, their touch was good, I think they’re in for a very, very good season.

“We’re very proud of our boys. To get this far was great, to play against them was something special for the boys.”

Crittenden said playing against Sydney FC after a long but successful season was a big bonus for his players. Blacktown City won the NSW NPL grand final against Sydney United this year and have now claimed a premiership and two grand final wins in the past three years.

“It was huge for them, they were very excited,” he said.

“The boys turned up today just buzzing. It’s something they’ll probably remember forever. It’s been a great three years, we’ve won everything you can win in three years.

“It’s not easy to go back-to-back-to-back and keep progressing as winners so we’re extremely proud of what we’ve done as a club and as a group.”

The Demons could be set to lose a number of their key players, with Danny Choi and Patrick Antelmi tipped to depart in the weeks ahead. But Crittenden remains unfazed.

“We don’t worry about that too much, one goes and one comes in,” he said.

“I don’t get too worried about who goes out and who comes in. It’s our job to go out and find someone else to come in. If we get players to the A-League or somewhere else overseas then that’s great for us.

“We’re going to have a holiday now and probably start back in middle-November.”