THE dream of FA Cup glory ended for the Rams against a strong Southport outfit who proved to have too much class for their North West Counties opponents.

Although confidence in the camp was high after a nine-match unbeaten run, it was a bridge too far for the Riverside outfit.

But despite the gulf of three divisions between the two leagues the victory was far from easy for the Sandgrounders. For much of the 90 minutes the Rams competed competently against the pace and power of Southport, but a disputed penalty decision and a moment of slack defending cost them dearly.

Derek Egan had a selection headache prior to kick-off with three influential players missing, Adam Kozlowski, Michael Saunders and Ewan Purcell. They were replaced by the returning John Blackley, Chris Mackay and recent signing from Padiham, Daniel Stubberfield.

The Rams almost grabbed a shock lead when a fierce inswinging corner from Adam Cook evaded everyone with only the slightest touches required to divert the ball into the net.

Southport started to gain plenty of possession and on 11 minutes the first real test on the home goal culminated in Mark Andrews pulling off a comfortable save following a swerving Lee Mulvaney strike.

The main difference between the two sides appeared to be the pace of the approach play, and the midfield battle that the Rams were struggling to compete with.

The Rams were failing to keep the ball and Stubberfield was struggling to make any headway against the Southport defence. However, on 36 minutes they created possibly their best chance when the new signing fired high and wide of the upright when faced against Steve Dickinson from the corner of the box.

This miss proved crucial and when minutes later a dangerous free kick caused mayhem inside the Ramsbottom area, the referee awarded a dubious penalty following appeals from the Southport faithful behind Mark Andrews' goal.

Terry Fearns calmly stepped up and slotted beyond Mark Andrews to give the large travelling contingent of away fans plenty to cheer about.

After words of encouragement during the half time interval, the Rams kicked off the second period attempting to claw their way back into the encounter, but on 47 minutes they had the worst possible start when the ball was floated to the back post and Steve Daly was well positioned to crash the ball beyond Andrews.

This goal appeared to kill off any hopes of a comeback, though no one can fault the Rams' effort and determination that was apparent throughout the tie.

On 56 minutes Andrews was once again called into action with a double save to deny both Steve Pickford and Mulvaney, the latter continuing his imperious form that impressed many of the 612 crowd.

The Rams failed to create any meaningful attempts on goal and even the introduction of Lee Buggie and Matt Edgington could not break down the well-drilled Southport defence.

A long range effort from Chris Mackay flew marginally wide of the post but it was the visitors who looked the more dangerous to add to their tally.

The Rams defence endured a torrid period with Fearns and Daly causing plenty of problems mainly through their aerial prowess, and only a stunning performance from Andrews between the posts restricted them to the two goals.

Andrews continued to make the headlines by pulling off a series of top drawer saves; the most aesthetically pleasing was on 83 minutes when an attempted Fearns lob was acrobatically tipped over by the experienced stopper.

The visitors performance was unfortunately marred at the end of the match when substitute Neil Robinson appeared to strike the Rams' Bill Robertson, leaving the referee with no other option but to give him his marching orders.

The Rams return to league action on Tuesday night with a trip to Brantigham Road to face newly promoted Maine Road, kick-off 7.45pm.