Boss Gary Setchell rued the key moments which saw brave King's Lynn Town's fine FA Trophy run come to an end on Saturday.

The Linnets were unable to make Blue Square Premier Southport their sixth higher-level scalp in this season's competition, despite matching them for large parts of the third-round tie at The Walks.

Port, who play three levels above Lynn, took the lead 60 seconds after Russell Dunkley headed against the bar and Dan Quigley saw an effort hooked off the line.

And with five minutes left, as Setchell's heroes poured forward in search of an equaliser, a mix-up between Richard Bunting and 'keeper Alex Street gifted the Conference club a route into today's last-eight draw.

Setchell said: 'We had a lot to deal with on the pitch. I know they did. But we could have gone 1-0 up. I was too far away to see if it was on the line or over it but I felt someone could have got something on it to put it in.

'Then a minute later we're 1-0 down to an unbelievable strike. You can't defend that. I thought we had been good value up until then. We kept trying, working hard. But in these type of games it is fine margins.

'They got the goal and then later on, we're on top, and then we lose Dunks (Dunkley, hamstring injury). It was a kick in the teeth.

And then when we're really on top, and the crowd are behind us at 1-0 down, and I was thinking 'we're going to get a goal here and we're off to Southport for a replay', we kill ourselves with a mix-up.

'It absolutely killed the game. Tie over. Out of the cup. All in that passage of play. It's disappointing because I honestly felt, with everyone behind us, we could have nicked something.'

Lynn, who along with fellow lowest-ranked side Skelmersdale United exited the competition at the weekend, pocketed more than £20,000 during their outstanding journey.

In front of a crowd of almost 1,500, Setchell's giantkillers pushed their former Football League opponents all the way. And the Linnets manager admitted his men can be rightly proud of their almost history-making foray into the quarter-finals.

The Lynn boss said: 'Credit to Southport. They didn't come here and take us lightly. They came here and absolutely worked their socks off against a Step Four side.

'I think we made them earn the victory. We didn't roll over and let them have it. They had to work to get to the quarter-finals. It's not often a Lynn team lose 2-0 and get clapped off. They got clapped off because they deserved to be clapped off.

'They gave everything, that every supporter would do if they were on the pitch. There is not a player in the dressing who couldn't have given me any more.'

- Click on the related link on the right-hand side of this page to read a match report, and see a gallery of pictures, from Saturday's game.