THERE were a few raw emotions on show as Eastleigh dipped out of the FA Trophy with a 2-1 defeat against the ten men of St Albans City on a grey Saturday at the Sparshatts Stadium.

Defeat came less than three weeks after their FA Cup replay exit against Tiverton Town and just six days after dipping out of the Hampshire Senior Cup at St Albans's Conference South rivals Havant & Waterlooville.

Small wonder then that Eastleigh's director of football Mark Dennis confessed: "I'm sick of cups and want to get them out of our system.

"This result has ruined my weekend. The Trophy holds big money and we've lost out today because of a couple of individual errors.

"First Sammy Wyeth's sold Colin Matthews short with a back pass and then the St Albans fella has stooped to head home a corner from three yards.

"It's not a happy dressing room in there. A few our players have got to take a long, hard look at themselves in training next week and work hard to get the communication going. We gave St Albans the game today."

Dennis took over in the dugout from boss Paul Doswell, who also came off second best in a charity boxing fight at Southampton's De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel on Friday night.

Doswell took his seat in the stand midway through the first half, having spent the early hours of the morning receiving treatment for a broken nose and fractured eye socket following his three-round points loss to local businessman Peter Robertson, who carried a two-and-a-half stone weight advantage.

By the time Doswell arrived, Eastleigh had been knocked to canvas by Basingstoke target Ben Walshe, who blasted the ball into an empty net after Matthews had lost out to Clarke as he raced to retrieve young Wyeth's loose pass.

But Eastleigh bounced straight up again three minutes later when, from their first meaningful attack, Wyeth atoned with a good ball to player/coach Nicky Banger, whose angled blast took a hefty deflection off City skipper Dean Hooper.

Much of the game was a comedy of defensive errors. Eastleigh, sorely missing the towering influence of skipper Rob Marshall (broken hand) and the true grit of Danny Rofe (suspended/broken finger), almost fell behind again when dangerman Clarke got a free near-post header from Gary Wraight's free-kick.

But the Conference South strugglers were none too solid at the back either and it took two miraculous blocks from keeper John Armond, from Smith and Martin Thomas, to stem a sudden tide of Eastleigh pressure towards the end of the first half.

With five second-half minutes gone, the balance appeared to swing Eastleigh's way when set-piece specialist Wraight saw straight red for his challenge on Smith.

But Doswell's Ryman Premier high-fliers looked strangely ill at ease playing against ten men and it came as no great surprise when City grabbed a 73rd-minute winner - Clarke heading in Walshe's right-wing cross.

Eastleigh's only plus point was the return of last season's 29-goal top scorer Paul Sales, who replaced Banger on 58 minutes having come safely through Thursday's reserve runout after more than two months out with a fractured leg.

Significantly, his first contribution was a tempting cross from the right, which the onrushing David Hughes just failed to reach.

Sales's strike partner Andy Forbes was also named on the bench but with no real intention of playing.

The former Winchester City hotshot, voted the Non-League Directory's player-of-the-year for 2003/4, will have his first outing for the reserves at Bemerton on Wednesday after a double calf operation.

Forbes said: "Salesy looked good when he came on, but he's done a lot more training than me. I had one session on Thursday, but I didn't feel fit enough to come on today.

"It was a difficult game to watch because we haven't played at all well. It's really disappointing to have been knocked out of the Trophy and the FA Cup by two beatable teams.

"I still believe a top-two league finish is possible if we can a get a full squad back. We're getting closer to that now, but as soon as one player comes back someone else goes down injured - and it's not just little nicks, it's broken legs and things. I've never been to a club with so many injuries."

Although there were a few raised voices in the Eastleigh dressing room after the match, Forbes smiled: "You need that bit of emotion if you lose. If it's quiet after a defeat, there's something wrong. When people shout a bit, it shows they care."