Stafford Rangers' dreams of a trip to Wembley were dashed following a 2-1 defeat at Tamworth in their FA Trophy third round replay on Tuesday night. First-half goals from Nick Wright and Chris Nurse set up a home fourth round tie with Blue Square leaders Aldershot.
Chris Flynn pulled one back but Stafford could not find an equaliser.
And that leaves Stafford to now concentrate on their battle against relegation from the top division of non-league football.
Stafford midfielder Ross Draper had two early openings, heading over from Damian Jarrett's free kick and then shooting a yard wide from the edge of the box.
The home side had the better of the first half, though, hitting the bar and having numerous chances to add to their two goals.
Wright opened the scoring for Tamworth in the 39th minute, racing onto a through ball and side-footing past Stafford goalkeeper Danny Alcock from 12 yards.
Midfielder Nurse doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time with a close-range header from Des Lyttle's cross.
The Conference Premier side raised their game after the break and Delapo Oloaye had a goal ruled out for handball early in the second half.
Joint player-caretaker manager Neil Grayson came off the bench to give Stafford fresh impetus and, on 73 minutes, they found a way back into the match.
Djimi Sangare sent a looping header towards goal from another Jarrett free-kick and Flynn tapped the ball over the line from a yard out.
Rangers pushed forward in search of an equaliser but could not get themselves back on terms, although Draper had legitimate claims for a penalty turned down by the referee in injury time.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?