Hungerford Town finished the Southern League season in 7th position despite a narrow defeat to play-off bound Dorchester on the final day at Bulpit Lane.

The early stages of the match passed without incident until the 18th minute when Shaquille Gwengwe raced through on goal and only had goalkeeper Alex Braidwood, who was making his first team debut in place of the injured Ryan Clarke, to beat. Gwengwe went for power over precision and saw his shot cannon off the underside of the crossbar.

That miss was to prove costly as the Crusaders took the lead with ten minutes of the first half remaining. Louis McGrory's free kick was flicked on towards goal and Harrison Lee came off his line to collect, but he spilled the ball allowing Curtis Angell to poke home from close-range.

On the stroke of half-time though Braidwood was required to tip over a William Spetch header to preserve the Crusaders' advantage.

Needing two goals to win the game and finish in the play-offs, the visitors applied the pressure on the Hungerford defence in the second half.

The Crusaders' industrious display was working well until McGrory fouled Wes Fogden in the penalty area, and Olaf Konzsela smashed the spot-kick home into the bottom corner of the net.

With Dorchester pushing forward for a late winner, opportunities presented themselves for the Crusaders on the counter-attack.

Marquez should have restored our advantage when he was played in one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Lee's outstretched leg denied the striker. Rafa Ramos too found himself beyond the Dorchester defence and his effort came close to stunning the visitors.

Max Ram's second yellow card handed the visitors the upper hand in their hopes of that late winner and Konzsela's free-kick had to be well-saved by Braidwood.

Dorchester eventually broke through Hungerford’s brave defensive resistance when Spetch rose highest from a corner and nodded the ball home to spark bedlam amongst the visiting support and send the Magpies into the play-offs.