Richie Barker admitted it was clear to see that his Bury players had nothing to play for as they sunk to a 3-0 defeat at Stevenage.
A 24th-minute goal from Craig Reid, his 21st of the season, and a second-half penalty from Joel Byrom put sixth-placed Boro in control before Chris Beardsley wrapped things up at the death, ensuring the Shakers finished the season in 14th.
"It's not ideally how we'd like the season to end," Barker said. "They obviously had far more to play for than we did and it showed a little bit in both 18-yard boxes.
"I thought some of our football was excellent. I thought we passed the ball about really well but if ever there was 45 minutes that summed up our season it was the last 45 minutes.
"We played some great stuff, didn't look like scoring, weren't ruthless enough in our box or their box.
"It was always going to be difficult against a team who in essence had a lot more to play for than us but I thought some of our football was nice and it will give us some positives to take into the summer."
© 2013 - British Sky Broadcasting Ltd