Burgess Hill manager Danny Bloor hopes he never has to witness an FA Vase defeat again.

Bloor saw his side go down to Hampshire League Winchester City in a disappointing fifth round defeat at Leylands Park on Saturday.

Ashley Carr gave the home side the perfect start with a goal after two minutes, but an unfortunate own goal by Jay Head made the scores level at half-time.

Danny Smith hit the sucker punch four minutes from time to snatch the £1,000 prize money and a place in the last eight for Winchester who are competing in the competition for the first time.

Saturday's defeat came a year after the County League leaders went out of the competition to eventual finalists Tiptree at the quarter-final stage.

The game could be Hillians last in the competition, however, as they look to gain promotion to the Dr Martens League where teams swap the Vase for the FA Trophy.

Dr Martens League officials assessed the facilities of Leylands Park last week and the club will know what minor improvements they have to make to bring their facilities up to scratch in the next few weeks.

A new 300-seater stand is testament to their ambition of making the grade and Bloor is determined to keep his side's momentum going on the pitch despite this Vase exit.

"It was hugely disappointing but we have to make sure that we don't lose our focus because of losing this game, he said.

"We are seven points clear at the top of the league with a couple of games in hand and we just need to get together as a group and make sure we go onwards from this.

"Promotion to the Southern League would be a huge step up but we are a very well run side and we like to conduct ourselves correctly both on and off the pitch, which has been the hallmark of our club over the years.

"There are a lot of people behind the scenes who do an awful lot for the club. It's a big team effort and we hope this year will be our year."

The pivotal point of the game came after 38 minutes when Carr was brought down by visiting keeper Darren Crowfoot and Steve Harper smashed the resulting penalty against the right hand upright.

By then Carr had fired in from close range after a fumble by Crowfoot to put the Hillians in front and Head had put through his own goal on 14 minutes when he deflected a header into his own net from a free kick by Matthew Bicknell.

Bloor was angry that Crowfoot was not even cautioned for his foul on Carr.

"I thought it was a strange decision when he gave the penalty not to have even booked the goalkeeper. I can't quite see where he was coming from with that," he said.

"With some referees he could have walked so I found that a very strange one, but that's irrelevant now."

Harper was frustrated by the same post two minutes after the penalty when he rounded Crowfoot and tried to squeeze a shot from a tight angle which hit the upright.

Home defender Ben Andrews said: "I couldn't believe it when he hit the post twice. Those two chances were the turning point of the game because if we had gone into half-time ahead then it would have been totally different. But that's the way it goes sometimes."

The visitors totally dominated the second half and Burgess Hill only started to create goalscoring chances after Smith had given Winchester the lead late in the game.

The former Bournemouth player rode a tackle from Head and fired past Pat Gannon from a tight angle.

Seven minutes of added time was played during which the home side had two guilt-edge chances to equalise.

First Harper beat the offside trap only to be denied by a good save low to his left by Crowfoot. Then substitute Matt Geard smashed a volley from 12 yards out which was again matched with a fantastic stop by the visiting keeper.

Andrews added: "They were two great chances at the end but their keeper produced two world class saves. It summed the game up for us, we had the chances but didn't have the best of luck. They were a great team and I hope they go on and do well."

Burgess Hill: Gannon, Edwards, Guile, Head, Andrews, Downey, Harper, Day (Carter 90), Churchill, Carr, Williams (Geard 68). Subs not used: Lutwyche, Kilpatrick, Callaghan.

Winchester: Crowfoot, Waite, Bicknell, Smith, Lang, Blake, Webber, Green, Mancey, Forbes, Beeks. Subs not used: Rogers, Ahmet, Piper, Brewster, Kirby.

Referee: M. Downey (Hounslow).

Attendance: 731
Man of the match: Matthew Bicknell (Winchester).