Steve Brown was laughing with disbelief as he delivered his post-match verdict on Saturday.

The Ebbsfleet manager had seen his side totally dominate their third qualifying round tie against Basingstoke and take a 53rd-minute lead through Charlie Sheringham.

It could - and should - have been more than 1-0, and the visitors punished the Fleet's profligacy by scoring twice in the last 18 minutes to turn the game round and go through.

Brown said: "I lost count of how many goals their keeper kept out. He was outstanding.

"Is it down to poor finishing or great goalkeeping? I’d say it was a bit of both. There were some superb reaction saves that he made and a free-kick’s hit the crossbar.

"I don’t know what more we can do, other than that ball hits the back of the net and you’re three or four-nil up which, in truth, and maybe I’m being biased, we could have been. Then you’re not worrying about a goal or two at the end.

"My complaint to the players was that football’s a wicked game. You can dominate for 70 minutes but if you don’t focus and keep concentration for the full 90, things like that can happen.

"A big hopeful header forward, your centre-half’s the wrong side of their centre-forward and he pulls out a finish like that – it’s 1-1. We clear a corner and we don’t shut down the full-back with a wonderful left foot, he delivers the ball back into our box, the line’s too deep, you’re 2-1 down and we get a sending-off.

"That’s how quickly football can turn and bite you on the backside.

"In a 20-minute spell, where they’ve not deserved anything out of the game, they’ve gone through to the next round and we’re deeply depressed about the result.

"It’s not nice but all you can do is try to learn a lesson from what’s just unfolded in front of our eyes."

Click here to read the match report.