IT STARTED with a bang and finished with a whimper and what came in between was simply not good enough to earn Cwmbran Town £15,000 and a place in the FAW Premier Cup quarter finals last night.

Gone is the chance to make even more cash via a guaranteed home draw against either Cardiff City, Swansea City or Wrexham while the more realistic opportunity to make it to the semi finals via a possible match-up with fellow-Welsh Premier rivals Barry has also been lost.

Cwmbran needed to win at the Runtech Stadium last night to have any chance of progressing and even then would have had to rely on Caersws winning at the same venue next month.

However, despite having enough possession, on only one occasion, when striker Chris Summers forced goalkeeper Brian Thomas into a fine, one-handed save, did Cwmbran go anywhere near scoring.

That incident apart, there was nothing else for Summers and co-marksman Mark Dunn to feed off while, in contrast, Lido pair Kevin Bartley and Mitch Patton often found themselves in possession in their opponents' penalty area.

That meant Marty Ellacott was by far the busier goalkeeper, the former Ton Pentre player making noteworthy saves on six separate occasions.

He was, however, beaten with 14 minutes remaining after he had done well to beat out a Phil Holmes header. The same player was first to react and followed up to fire in the winner at the near post.

Cwmbran threw on forwards Mattie Davies, Jody Jenkins and Chris Watkins in a bid to pull the game out of the fire, but none could make an impression on a game which resulted in the Lido qualifying with group winners Rhyl for the last eight.

Cwmbran now face the tough prospect of taking on unbeaten League of Wales leaders TNS on their own patch on Saturday when improvement is essential if they are to return with a positive result.

Afan Lido: B Thomas, L Shrimpton, J Chandler, P Evans, P Holmes (c), A Rickard, A Pearson, S Parry, K Bartley (C Evans, 89), M Patton (L McCreesh, 86), G Hurley. Subs not used: S Walters, A Davies. Booked Shrimpton (84, foul). Goal: Holmes (76).

Cwmbran Town: M Ellacott, R Carter, N Smothers, S Mainwaring (J Jenkins, 81), G Warton (C Watkins, 77), A Wright, C Summers, A Moore, M Dunn (M Davies, 77), S Wharton (c), N Wigg. Sub not used: J Welsh. Booked: Moore (73, foul).