WESTFIELDS boss Sean Edwards used the wise words of predecessor John Layton to sum up his disappointment after the club’s Wembley dreams had died for another year.

The Hereford side lost 2-1 to N o r t h e r n L e a g u e Division 1 o u t f i t B i l l i n g h a m S y n t h o n i a after extra time in Sunday’s FA Vase third-round showdown.

But, after taking the lead, Westfields know they have only themselves to blame for the defeat.

“John Layton once said ‘play the game, not the occasion’, but I think we played the occasion and not the game,” said Edwards.

“Our goal at the start of this season was to do well in the Vase and that is what we talked about.

“If we had won the next game we would have been at home and we would have had a couple of players back.

“But the FA Vase is our achilles heel. We’ve got the players to do it, but you need to be brave.”

The match was due to be played on Saturday, but the bad weather resulted in another postponement – the tie's fourth overall.

Both sides agreed to play it the following day, but the late arrangement meant that Westfields were without Mark Hibbard and Darren Andrews, who had prior family commitments.

Left-back Joel Edwards, who has probably been the Midland Alliance side's best player this season, was missing through suspension.

But the home side put their disappointment to one side and duly went ahead through Phil Glover’s 39thminute header.

Their joy was short lived, however. Billingham’s prolific marksman James M a g o w a n was left unmarked to head home a corner.

Both sides tried desperately hard to find a winner, but neither could muster one and the game went into extra time.

And it was the away side who came out of the blocks the quickest and went ahead in the 92nd minute.

More sloppy defending from Westfields contributed to the visitors’ winning goal.

A free-kick found Nathan Jameson on the left and he had the simple task of stroking the ball home.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Edwards' men and it was the Middlesbrough outfit who looked like they would score again, most notably when home goalkeeper Jamie Moore made a brilliant one-handed save to keep out Magowan’s effort.

There was still time for Westfields to salvage a draw and they almost did deep in stoppage time.

Star striker Richard Kear, who was man of the match in the Hereford side's win against Coventry Copsewood in the previous round, somehow failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy.

If Kear had scored, the tie would have gone to a replay.