Daisy Hill’s hopes of progress in the Macron Challenge Cup were ended after going down to a 4-2 defeat in a first-round tie at Holker Old Boys on Tuesday night.

On a windy evening in Barrow-in-Furness, Daisy were a little unfortunate to be a goal down at the break, with Holker’s Jack Litherland opening the scoring in the 13th minute.

But second-half goals from Tom Stephenson and Jamie Hodgson put the home side in the driving seat.

And although Ryan Talbot pulled a goal back for Daisy, a fourth from Holker’s Luke Davey restored their three-goal advantage before Amaan Malik grabbed a late consolation.

Daisy manager Lee Hill felt afterwards his side had competed well for periods in the game.

“Holker are on a great run of form - that is their seventh win in a row and they are going well - but we seem to play better against teams higher up in the league,” said Hill.

“In the first half I felt we played the better football and were the better side, and didn’t deserve to be a goal down at the break.

“We had an early chance and could have gone 1-0 up before they did, and I think the final result was a bit hard on us.

“When you are in the middle of a run of poor results, which we are, sometimes in games things just don’t go for you like they do when you are on a good run, and that was the case tonight.”

Daisy started well and had the first chance of the match when a corner from the left was swung in by Jake O’Brien and Dean Singleton rose above the Holker back line to power a header just wide.

But Holker took the lead from their first clear chance of the game on 13 minutes, when a cross was swung in from Joshua Woodend on the left, and after Joe Amison had a shot blocked, the Daisy defence failed to clear their lines and Litherland pounced on the loose ball to rifle home the opener past Morgan Newns from close range.

The remainder of the first half was a dogged midfield battle with both teams struggling in the windy conditions, and Holker’s sole chance came when Frankie Ellis stung the palms of Newns with a shot from the edge of the box that the keeper pushed away comfortably.

At the other end, just before half time, Daisy centre-half Sam Glendon had a chance with a header from a corner at the far post, but failed to hit the target.

After the break Holker began the second half on the front foot, and enjoyed the better of the territory and possession before doubling their advantage just after the hour mark.

Stephenson was the marksman, when he latched on a great through ball that split the Daisy defence, and his shot beat Newns and ended up in the back of the net off the inside of the post.

The home side took control eight minutes later when Hodgson converted a penalty to put them three goals up, but Daisy had a glimmer of hope when Talbot pulled one back 14 minutes from time.

Daisy’s leading scorer grabbed his 10th goal of the season when he outpaced the Holker defence before beating Holker keeper Finley Martin with a shot from the edge of the box.

Within a couple of minutes Davey restored Holker’s lead with a fourth goal, but Daisy kept going and Malik pulled back another late on, with a shot from 20 yards that gave Martin no chance.

Daisy are back in action with another double header of games in the North West Counties League First Division North this weekend, first of all travelling to face Euxton Villa on Saturday, before playing host to Darwen at the Plumb Factory Stadium on Monday evening.