Baldock Town's FA Vase hopes and dreams were shattered in the cruellest of manners - a penalty shoot-out loss to Hadley after a heartbreaking 2-2 draw.
Josh Furness headed home a corner in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half and when Finley Aldridge pounced on 77 minutes to go to double the advantage, Baldock were sitting pretty.
But Solomon Ofori got Hadley's first with six minutes to go, tucking in a rebound after Bradley Marriott's initial effort came back off the crossbar, and he grabbed the equaliser just past the 90 to send the game to penalties.
Even there Baldock got their noses in front, Davis Boateng pushing Luke Jupp's shot onto a post, but a save from Lewis Ward in the fourth round of kicks took it into sudden death and Lewis Franklin was the unlucky man in red, watching his effort go over to send Hadley through 5-4.
One bit of positive news for Baldock though was that youngster Richard Kusorgbor, a second-half substitute on Sunday, has been "invited to train with Colchester United's academy following a number of outstanding performances for us this season".
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