Daisy Hill’s interest in the Edward Case Cup was ended at the first-round stage, when they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Bacup Borough at the Plumb Factory Stadium on Monday night.

A first-half header from Bacup striker Lewis-Simon Byrne decided the tie for the current cup holders, although Daisy came desperately close to grabbing an equaliser in the 12 minutes of stoppage time that were played, with Sam Twist hitting the post and Sam Glendon just missing the target with a powerful header in the dying seconds.

It was the second time in the space of 48 hours Bacup had inflicted a single-goal defeat on the hosts, having won 3-2 in a closely-fought league game on Saturday.

And Daisy manager Lee Hill was once again left frustrated after his side had matched the visitors for long periods of the game.

“I thought it was very much like Saturday’s game, very close, but in the end a disappointing result for us,” said Hill.

“The goal was a poor one for us to lose, and it’s very rare for us to concede a goal like that, from a cross into the box and a header.

“We had chances late on, Sam Twist hit the post and we came close a few times, but we didn’t get the run of the ball or that bit of luck you need sometimes.

“Although it may seem strange to say so, there were plenty of positives to take from the game, even though we lost, and we have to build on those.

“We tried a different formation, playing with three strikers, and we did cause Bacup some problems, although to be fair to them, they defended well.

“You can see they are an experienced side who have been together for a while. They are the cup holders, and they weren’t going to give it up easily.”

The game sprung into life on 10 minutes with both sides having chances - first of all Bacup coming close when Kyle Siddle clipped a shot past Daisy keeper Morgan Newns that just missed the far post, and then from the restart the hosts raced up to the opposite end and Bacup keeper Mason Walker made a fine save, diving full length to push away a well-struck shot from Malick Tanou.

But just after the half-hour mark, Bacup broke the deadlock when Byrne rose to power a header past Newns from Aiden Hussey’s right-wing cross.

It could have been worse for Daisy four minutes later when Newns made a good blocking save to deny Alex Mellor, but after the break Daisy came out on the front foot.

And after a Ryan Talbot header was saved by Walker, Daisy captain Jake O’Brien was unlucky when he curled a free-kick just over the bar.

As the game wore on, Daisy continued to apply pressure going forward, but resolute defending from a well-organised Bacup back line largely kept them at bay.

As the game entered the closing minutes Tanou came close with a shot that was deflected for a corner, and in stoppage time Daisy twice came even closer to grabbing a deserved equaliser.

Twist hit the post with a shot after racing into the Bacup box, and then with almost 12 minutes of stoppage time played, Glendon rose to head agonisingly just wide of the far post from a corner.

Daisy travel to face Nelson in the North West Counties League First Division North on Saturday (3pm).