HARTLEY Wintney’s FA Cup dream may be over, but their history-making run, which took them to the fourth qualifying round for the first time, earned the village side around £19,000.

Hartley played their first game in this year’s competition at Kidlington, on August 17.

Eight games later, the Combined Counties League Premier Division side made their exit, beaten by Southern League Division One Central league leaders Daventry 6-1 last Saturday.

A bumper crowd of over 1,000 packed into Hartley’s ground hoping the underdogs would cause another upset, but it was not to be.

Hartley chairman Luke Mullen said: “We really enjoyed the ride and I am really proud of the players. I must also thank everyone from the village who turned out to support us.

“It was a great day for the club and the money will be used to make the improvements needed at the ground, if we want to get promoted.

“The money will be spent on the club, but at least we won’t have to find it from another pot, which is good for us.”

Hartley certainly gave most of the crowd something to cheer about early on in Saturday’s tie.

Midfielder Max Elward was given time to tee up a long range effort, which flew over the head of visiting goalkeeper Richard Morris. This spurred the visitors into action and Ryan Howell curled in a lovely effort from the edge of the area to make it 1-1 on 20 minutes.

The home side went looking for the lead again and Sam Argent fired just wide, before Ross Oulton had a shot blocked by Hartley captain Stuart Urquhart.

Daventry then scored twice in as many minutes, as Ashley Robinson headed in at the near post from Oulton’s corner.

Almost immediately, Robinson broke through again and was brought down by Ashley Lloyd in the penalty area.

Liam Coleman fired home the spot kick, past the despairing hand of the diving Craig Atkinson.

Having come back from 3-1 down in their last FA Cup tie, Hartley tried to do it again and Argent forced a save.

Then, right on half-time, Hartley’s Ian Jones headed off the line as Daventry nearly scored a fourth.

Early in the second half, Hartley player/manager Ben Dillon added even more firepower to his side’s attack, but this left gaps at the back.

Daventry made the most of them as they scored three more goals from Tom Lorraine, Adam Conflie and Neil King.

The victory for the visitors earned them an away tie in the first round at Chesterfield.

A very disappointed Hartley boss Dillon said: “We started well and then gave away two sloppy goals. We then went for broke and got caught out, hence why the scoreline was so high.

“Full credit to Daventry, but we have put Hartley on the map having got this far in the competition. We will now look to do well in the league and FA Vase.”

Hartley returned to league action against visiting Chessington and Hook on Tuesday night, but the game was abandoned due to a floodlight failure following a power cut.

The village side will hope for better luck on Saturday, when they entertain Raynes Park Vale.