CO-BOSS Dave Fear praised his team’s work ethic but, for all their industry, Sholing failed to progress beyond the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Although the Boatmen acquitted themselves well against higher league opposition, they couldn’t atone for the early lack of concentration that handed Chippenham a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth Road.

The Bluebirds made a flying start and took seven minutes to get their beaks in front.

Ian Harvey caught the defence napping with a quick free-kick to Jordan Roberts whose effort looked to be going wide. But England Futsal captain Luke Ballinger sneaked up on the blind side to bury the only goal.

Sholing gave as good as they got for much of the tie with TJ Cuthbertson’s teasing crosses testing the defence before Boatmen keeper Matt Brown made a stunning reaction save to deny Connor McCormack.

The home side then brought the best out of Chippenham ’keeper Kent Kauppinen who managed to tip Kevin Brewster’s dipping free kick over the bar.

The Bluebirds came strong again at the start of the second half.

But, with Nick Watts looking bright out wide, Sholing remained very much in the run¬ ning in an open contest.

They had one last scare, however, when James Guthrie determinedly reclaimed the ball in the Sholing half only for his shot to be pushed away by Brown.

Fear said: “I’m disappointed with the result, obviously, but the guys gave everything.

“We had the lion’s share of the play against a Southern Premier side who, though not in the best of form, have got that experience of being in the top division.

“It was one of those days when nothing really fell for us in the box. I’m not saying we totally dominated, but we worked very hard and were unfortunate not to get something out of it.

“This is a transition period for us with the youngsters coming through and the injuries we’ve got, but I was pleased with the performance.” Kane Crisp has joined Sholing’s casualty list with a dead leg and was replaced at left-back by Taurean Manders on Saturday.

Alex Baldacchino, Jack Smith, Barry Mason and Lewis Fennemore all remain sidelined and, along with Crisp, will miss Wednesday’s Hampshire FA Senior Cup tie at home to US Portsmouth.