BRIDGWATER Town manager Richard Fey said he was “proud of his players” after their FA Cup campaign was ended by Conference South side Basingstoke at Fairfax Park on Saturday.

The Robins were beaten 2-0 by their highflying visitors but had the chances to make life very uncomfortable for Basingstoke.

Fey said: “I was proud of each and every one of them. We knew it would be hard against a team high on confidence, third in Conference South and coming to us on the back of beating top-of-the-table Boreham Wood.

“They had a lot of the ball but didn't create much and stats show we had more shots on goal and created more chances than them.

“They scored two great goals from outside the box – but Daine, Tooze and Tom had great chances and if one went in it would have been a different game.

“Karim Rendell went over on his ankle last week and didn't train all week but wanted to strap it up and play, so we brought him on with 35 minutes to go and tried to have a go at them with four forwards on the pitch but it was hard to get out and we didn't see much of the ball.

“Having said that, we had a spell in both halves where we just needed that goal. We finished the game with Ollie Chamberlain aged 19 and Harry Horton aged 17 in centre midfield – a great experience for our youngsters.”