LACK of senior squad players finally took its toll on brave Bashley as they suffered 90th-minute FA Trophy heartbreak away to the might of Conference South outfit Hayes.

On paper the New Forest club shouldn't have been able to live with a side from two levels above them, but Bash gave as good as they got until lack of concentration and experience kicked in in the dying seconds.

Understandably, manager Geoff Butler was still immensely proud of his troops following a slender 1-0 defeat in Middlesex, which highlighted the numerical limitations of his squad.

With around 20 minutes gone Bash lost one of their key weapons, Dave Wakefield, to a back injury and his replacement Gary Langrish, a former Dorchester reserve player, lasted only two minutes before he too hobbled off with a twisted ankle.

There were only young guns on the bench, forcing Butler to bring on reserve midfielder Darren Head who, while running his socks off playing just behind the front two, lacked the experience for such a big occasion.

Butler, whose Ryman 1 underdogs travelled to Church Road buoyed by six straight victories, said: "We couldn't have done any more. We ran out of senior players and were ultimately beaten by the size of our squad. "

Both sides missed penalties on an afternoon of high drama and, in Bashley's case, they felt a tad hard done by that Hayes keeper Kevin Davies was not red-carded for hauling down the Foresters' top-scorer Richard Gillespie.

With penalty taker Wakefield having already made his exit, ex-Saints Academy lad Luke Byles was keenest to take it, but Davies dived low to his right to keep it out.

On 83 minutes, the ref pointed to the spot again when Byles lunged at substitute Peter Dean, but Bashley's hopes of a replay were boosted when Adam Everitt smashed his kick against the angle of post and bar.

However, there was cruel sting in the tail for Bash when keeper David Elm slid in with Dean for Kieran Knight's low cross-shot and somehow the ball wriggled free for Dean to poke home the winner while sitting on his backside.

"How cruel is that?" said Butler. "It was the first time all game that we hadn't got close to them.

"The Hayes manager said afterwards that he'd have had no complaints if their keeper had been sent off for bringing down Gillespie."