THE area's FA Cup hopes now rest with Lymington & New Milton and Salisbury City after Eastleigh were sunk 1-0 by Tiverton on a wet and wild night at the Sparshatts Stadium.

It was a goalkeeping howler from Colin Matthews that ultimately led to Eastleigh's extra-time demise in this third qualifying round replay, writes WENDY GEE.

But the pre-match presentation to injured ex-Winchester City goal machine Andy Forbes, crowned The Non League Directory's 2003/4 player-of-the-year, was a timely reminder of what they've been missing up front.

Both Forbes (calf operation) and last season's top scorer Paul Sales (broken leg) are about a fortnight away from fitness - but that's two weeks too late as far as the FA Cup is concerned.

Boss Paul Doswell, whose side had fought back from 1-3 down to draw 3-3 in Devon last weekend, confessed: "We had nothing up front to put Tiverton under any pressure.

"We put Martin Thomas up there but then lost him after half-an-hour to hamstring trouble. I'm sick and tired of talking about our injuries. It gets you down after a while."

Thomas's replacement, Nicky Banger, came as close as anyone to breaking the deadlock for Eastleigh.

In a purple patch midway through the second half, the ex-Saint was unlucky not to get a true shot in off an awkwardly bouncing back pass and then he flicked the ball onto the outside of the far post as he stretched to meet a superb David Hughes delivery.

In between, Tiverton keeper Mark Ovendale made his best save off the head of his own defender Rob Cousins after Banger had played the ball menacingly into the area.

Thomas, new loan signing Jamie Gleeson, Danny Smith and substitute Ryan Ashford all had decent efforts for Eastleigh, but Doswell couldn't help but cast a mournful eye towards his two injured strikers in the stand.

He said: "When Nicky hit the post, I wondered what might have happened if Andy had got onto it with his pace. Also, we must have strung about a dozen decent crosses into their box and Tiverton's big number five (Nathan Rudge) headed out every one of them. That's when I was looking for Salesy."

For the bulk of the game there was little to choose between the sides, although Matthews was always the busier of the keepers.

Having superbly turned away Jamie Mudge's curling shot on the turn just before half-time, Matthews saved well again from substitute David Steele and then produced a solid 81st minute block to keep out Yeovil loan striker Kezie Ibe as Tiverton's superior strength began to tell.

Eastleigh briefly re-energised in extra-time, but they were finally beaten after 97 minutes when Matthews failed to deal with Mudge's hard, low shot from the left and Rudge got the all-important touch to book Tivvy a home tie against Newport County on Saturday week.

"I felt one goal was going to win it and it came from a mistake," said Dowell. "But I'm not blaming Colin. Our defenders could have picked up the loose ball.

"We tried our best and matched Tiverton in both games, but we also had defender Rob Marshall out and, in the end, we were lacking that bit of quality against a big, strong, physical side."

Eastleigh: Colin Matthews, Sam Wyeth, Danny Rofe, Martin Thomas (Nicky Banger, 33), Jamie Gleeson, Chris Collins, Danny Smith, David Hughes, Tyronne Bowers (Ryan Ashford, 88), Martin Beck (James Stokoe, 66), Christer Warren. Subs: (not used) Wayne Shaw, John Mulhern.

Tiverton: Mark Ovendale, Steve Winter (Kevin Wills, 88), Chris Vinnicombe (Shaun Goff, 91), Tom Stocco, Nathan Rudge, Rob Cousins, Dave Hallett (David Steele, 58), Ian Harvey, Mike Booth, Kezie Ibe, Jamie Mudge.

Subs: (not used) Jamie Dencham, Paul Edwards.