Havant & Waterlooville came away thoroughly 'Browned' off from the first ever Hampshire Senior Cup final at St Mary's last night.

The Hawks arrived in Southampton with high hopes of erasing the memory of last season's dismal Dell display against Andover. But it wasn't to be.

Once again they left with heavy hearts and empty hands after being shot down by a Stafford Browne hat-trick in a 3-1 defeat by Aldershot.

For poor co-manager Mick Jenkins, there is no sign of his county cup hoodoo abating. Cruelly, this was the fourth time he had finished on the losing side - twice as a player and, now, twice as manager.

For much of the first half, it looked as if Aldershot's vast army of fans would be the ones to go home disappointed.

No-one will be more relieved that they didn't than Shots' former Torquay goalkeeper Gareth Howells, who let Shaun Gale's free-kick slither embarrassingly through his hands to gift Hawks a 19th-minute lead.

Howells atoned for his error in first-half stoppage time, tipping over a point-blank James Taylor header set up by Gareth Hall's determined by-line cross.

Eight minutes earlier Aldershot had frittered their best chance of the half - former Saints trialist Mark Bentley shooting wide after Jason Chewins's delivery had bounced conveniently off Gale's back.

From sitting reasonably pretty on their 1-0 cushion, Hawks had the rug whipped from under them as Aldershot upped the tempo after the break.

Browne, hailed in the programme as having "outstanding heading ability," proved the point emphatically with a 50th-minute equaliser.

Bentley was the architect and it was the same dynamic duo who struck again on 69 minutes with Browne this time firing home at the far post.

In between, Hawks' top gun Taylor had twice threatened with headers but his ammunition supply dried up when wing-back Chris Ferrett limped off injured on the hour.

Had it not been for a smart save by Paul Nicholls, Browne would have been celebrating his hat-trick on 70 minutes.

As it was, he had to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time to dance through Hawks' disorderly defence and seal Shots' third HSC win in four years.

H&W had come close in the last five minutes through substitute Paul Wood and the influential Hall, but Jenkins admitted: "It was too little, too late.

"We started brightly and got the goal, albeit with a bit of luck, but we sat off them and gave them too much room in the second half."

Jenkins' mood was in stark contrast to Shots' boss Terry Brown, who only arrived from Hayes in March and already has a trophy on the shelf.

He smiled: "You couldn't have written a better script than to go 1-0 down and then attack in front of your own supporters and score a hat-trick."