Don't dream. It's over - Bucks 0 Darlington 3

The FA Trophy dream is over for AFC Telford United - and this defeat could send manager Andy Sinton scurrying back into the transfer market.

Darlington may have been flattered by the scoreline but there were still plenty of areas of concern for the Bucks boss as he turns his attention to the rest of the season.

To the front of his thinking must be the position of goalkeeper, with Ryan Young now set to serve a three-game ban after being sent off on his 200th appearance for the club.

Of even more concern for Sinton must be his side's current struggles in front of goal.

In eight games since the turn of the year they have now drawn a blank four times, scoring just six goals in total. By comparison they hit 20 in the first eight and scored at least once in every one of those games.

Top scorer Adam Proudlock is out injured while his regular partner Andy Brown is clearly not fully fit, though he was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet against the Quakers.

Other options including Alex Meechan and Danny Carey-Bertram have their merits but do not look likely to be the consistent goalscorer Telford crave. No wonder Sinton is working hard behind the scenes to bring in alternatives.

The tone was set on Saturday when Darlington took the lead inside two minutes, Gary Smith drilling in after Young had saved well from Liam Hatch off Aaron Brown's corner.

The Bucks defence had been at sixes and sevens for that and were almost caught out again seven minutes later, Young again making an important save - this time denying John Campbell from another Brown corner.

Yet the home side did then start to settle and went on to pile pressure on the full-time side.

Andy Brown came closest to a first half equaliser, latching on to a long clearance from Young and flicking the ball over Darlington No 1 Sam Russell.

He then span round the keeper and looked set to tap in, only for visiting skipper Ian Miller to steam in from the left with a tremendous goal-line clearance.

The lively James Lawrie got just as close four minutes into the second half with a header off Sean Newton's corner but Russell again came to his side's rescue.

And that proved something of a turning point as the steam slowly went out of Telford's spirited bid to get back in the game.

Darlington, with a lead to protect, were happy to be patient and were coasting when Aman Verma doubled that advantage.

It came from another Aaron Brown corner, the powerful Dan Burn heading it back into the six-yard box and Verma converting with a bicycle kick.

Telford looked as good as out at that stage and their faint hopes nose-dived further when Young was sent off five minutes later.

His clash with Hatch looked innocuous but the striker collapsed to the ground and referee James Adcock quickly brandished the red card.

Adcock's interpretation was that Hatch had held on to Young - meaning that play would eventually re-start with a Telford free-kick - and the keeper had thrown an elbow in the striker's face to free himself.

With Andy Brown now having to don the gloves for the last 10 minutes, hopes of a fightback receded still further.

And substitute Nathan Modest duly hammered the final nail in the coffin in injury-time, latching onto a through ball to toe poke home.

The road to Wembley has now been closed off but you can be sure Sinton is already addressing the lessons learned to try and ease the path to promotion.

Match analysis by Chris Hudson