BASINGSTOKE Town's dreams of an extended run in the FA Cup were derailed after a tight contest against National League South opposition Hungerford Town. 

Stefan Brown's first-half spot-kick was enough to give the visitors a narrow 1-0 victory, ending the Dragons run in the cup for another season in the second qualifying round.

Hungerford started the stronger of the two sides and Basingstoke were penned inside their own half from the kick-off. 
The visitors direct approach with strikers Nat Jarvis and Nicholas Bignall caused many problems for the hosts, as Town were forced to defend several corners and long throw in set pieces in the early going.. 

On 5 minutes Alex Tokarczyk did well to reach a dangerous cross and parry away from two Hungerford players head,after five minutes, recovering well to push the loose ball away to safety. 
The early play showed up the physicality of the sides with the home players often outmuscled in challenges.

After 15 minutes Basingstoke came into the game with some good passing moves, and on 19 minutes a corner from George Bennett saw Charlie Kennedy's header cleared off the line. 

Shortly afterwards Town had cause for concern as skipper David Ray went off with blood streaming from his nose. This left the team defending one man down for a full five minutes.

Just before the half-hour mark Basingstoke with a slick passing move between Kennedy and Richie Whittingham setting up the chance for Ashley Artwell. 
The young forwards shot was pushed out by the diving Hungerford keeper George Legg. The Dragons kept up the pressure and Bennett corner Ray’s powerful header was denied by Legg making the save under his crossbar.

However, on 38 minutes the visitors took the lead. 

A long free kick on the right from Matt Day saw Jarvis pushed in the back by Marcus Johnson-Schuster, and Brown made easy work of the resulting penalty. 

Basingstoke came out in the second-half looking for an instant reply and when Whittingham's free-kick was met by Robert Atkinson, the defender could only direct his effort over the bar. 

But it was the Crusaders who nearly doubled their lead on 67 minutes when a long kick from Legg found its way through to substitute Harry Goodger, but his shot straight at Tokarcyzk. 

In the closing stages Town had a late flurry of chances, with Kennedy and substitute George Hallahan both narrowly missing the target. 

But it was not to be the Dragons day as the dream of reaching the first round proper of the FA Cup will have to wait for another year.