Winchester'S dreams of defending the FA Vase perished on what manager Neil Hards dismissed as "a junk-heap of a pitch" at Bridgwater Town on Saturday.

When City proudly lifted the silverware at St Andrews in May, the Wessex champions were acclaimed as the best footballing side on their rung

of the non-league ladder.

But the Vase favourites struggled to get their passing game going in a wretched 2-0 fourth-round defeat played in ankle-deep mud at rain-sodden Fairfax Park.

Instead, they were rocked by a goal in each half from 80/1 shots Bridgwater who had never even made it to last 32 before, let alone the dizzy

heights of today's last-16 draw.

Hards reflected: "I don't mind losing to a better side, but we weren't beaten by Bridgewater today, we were beaten by the pitch. You couldn't pass the ball five yards on that gluepot, it got stuck under the players' feet. You needed a shovel and pick to dig it out. They were rugby, not football conditions and, by the end, the players were so covered in mud you couldn't see who was who. I'm just thankful no one came out of it with a serious injury.

"We won the Vase last year playing good football, but it was difficult to stand up today, let alone play. Gary Green (veteran midfielder) looked like Bambi at times.

"The lads are bitterly disappointed to go out of the Vase, but I can't knock their effort or determination. We couldn't play our normal one-twos around the box and a lot of our chances were limited to the air, which is alien to us. We could have done with 11 6ft 5in blokes to hump it up the pitch."

Ultimately it was Winchester's inability to adapt their game to the conditions that led to their downfall, even though Bridgwater played the last 25 minutes with ten men after having striker Chris Young sent off.

Robins' boss Trevor Senior also prides his team on being 'a footballing side', but their willingness to cut the frills and get the ball forward caused

City no end of early problems and it was no great surprise when they seized a 26th-minute lead.

Not for the first time recently, Winchester were undone from a corner. Defender Gary Rice whipped in an inswinger and it was glanced home at the near post by Young.

Shortly before scoring, dangerman Young had drawn a full-stretch save from City's 21-year-old goalkeeper Simon Arthur, badly in need of a

confidence boost after some iffy kicking on the swamp-like surface.

Having shown signs of getting their act together towards the end of the first half, City - sporting a fresh set of shirts - should have equalised at the start of the second, but Mat Jones's downward header was well stopped on the line by keeper Ben Fellows and Jamie Laidlaw spooned

the follow-up over.

Then, on 65 minutes, the defending champions were handed a potential lifeline when the headstrong Young lunged into a retaliatory tackle on

Mark Jones and saw his second yellow card, promptly followed by red.

Using the fresh legs of substitutes Graeme Gee, Adam Rogers and Kevin Brewster, Winchester went for broke against the ten men, but without ever really forcing Fellows into a notable save.

It was actually Arthur who had to block a Justin Porter shot in a tension-packed finale.

The more desperate City's search for an equaliser became, the higher the risk that Bridgwater would catch them on the break. And they did just that three minutes into stoppage time when lively 18-year-old substitute Ollie Smith scampered clear before squaring for Steve Sokol to bury the clincher.

Winchester's distraught bench were convinced it was offside and, as a final downer, coach Steve Moss was banished from the dugout.

Bridgwater's ex-Bashley boss Senior gave short shrift to City's misgivings about the tie going ahead.

"It was down to the referee," he said. "The way the pitch ended up didn't suit us either because we're a footballing side. Winchester were

always confident they'd get a replay and some of their lads were saying: 'Wait 'til we get you back to our place on a decent pitch.'

"Well maybe next year they will!

"We've got a couple of lads, Mark Kenway and Dave Whalley, who've played Wessex football and say the facilities and pitches are generally better than we have in the Western League. But ours is one of the tidier grounds and, although conditions were tricky, I'm sure Winchester have played on a lot worse."

Not so, according to Hards, who said: "There's no side in the Wessex with a pitch like that. But good luck to Bridgwater. I hope they do well in the Vase, but I still say the team that wins it will play a bit more football than they do.

"Lymington & New Milton and Newbury are miles better than them and it would be nice to see another Wessex side go on and win it.