Hundreds of football fans watched their team crash out of the FA Cup in a historic tie.

Eastbourne Borough's dreams of becoming giant killers were dashed last night when they lost 3-0 to League Two Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.

Steve Basham's hat-trick sent the Conference South side spinning out of the competition after a pulsating first round replay.

Borough had never reached this stage of the FA Cup before but were unable to take advantage of their second bite of the cherry after forcing a 1-1 draw at Priory Lane in the first game.

A fleet of seven coaches and a convoy of cars ferried more than 750 Borough fans to the match and they cheered their heroes after a superb display which saw them denied by both the woodwork and goalline clearances.

The East Sussex side can console themselves with the £40,000 they hope to pocket from the cup run.

Les Baker, vice-chairman of Eastbourne Borough Supporters' Club, was among fans who travelled to the match.

He said: "Obviously I am disappointed at the result but the odds were stacked against us being up against a fulltime professional side.

"We rose to the occasion and played some good football.

There was a great atmosphere with lots of noise and lots of fans cheering the team on.

"We will keep our fingers crossed we can do this again next year. It's been a wonderful experience for the club and for the fans and I thought we gave a very good account of ourselves."

David Bauckham, 45, of Longland Road, Eastbourne, the club's web site manager, said: "I think the result was a bit harsh, 2-1 to Oxford would have been a fair reflection of the game. The team gave Oxford plenty to think about and hopefully this will kick start their season and instill a little bit of self-belief.

"The fans certainly made their presence felt and I have just had a call from someone at the Oxford web site to say how great the Borough fans were."

Barry Coley, 56, treasurer of the club until earlier this year, was unable to get to Oxford but listened to the match on the radio.

He said: "It has been a good run for the team. In other years we have been knocked out in the early stages so it was great to get this far.

"We were matching them man for man."