BASINGSTOKE Town were beaten by a goal in the 89th minute, as they lost at Hitchin Town in the Southern League Premier Division.

The Dragons had hoped to build on their excellent FA Cup victory last weekend and manager Terry Brown made two changes to his line-up.

It was a welcome return from injury for club captain David Ray, while Michael Atkinson was preferred in midfield.

They replaced the injured Tamille Roache and George Bennett who were relegated to the subs bench.

The home side had the better of the first 45 minutes with Brett Donnelly and Richie Burns going close, after the visitor’s George Hallahan had fired over. Hitchin then thought they had scored, as Lucas Kirkpatrick sent in a cross which was headed in by Dan Webb, only for it to be ruled offside.

For the start of the second-half, Basingstoke boss Brown made two changes as both his front men Aaron Jarvis and Hallahan were replaced by fellow strikers Aaron Redford and Romone Rose.

A third change for Town saw the introduction of Ashleigh Antwell for Sam Deadfield and the winger caused the home side some problems.

However, with a minute left of normal time, Hitchin took all three points as sub Sam Barker’s cross was headed in by captain Donnelly for the winner.

The victory moved the home side up to ninth in the table, but Basingstoke slipped to 20th.

They will hope to bounce back to winning ways on Tuesday night, when they travel to Kings Langley.

The Hertfordshire side won on Saturday 1-0 at Cirencester, which moved them two places above the Dragons.