Athletic crashed to a heavy defeat on Wednesday night, but their cup dreams were ended weeks ago.
Hardly continued their poor run of form as they were easily brushed aside by Lost Boys, losing to a new club record 11-0 defeat. That in itself is no shame as the Boys, who are top of the Premier League and have a 100% record in the cup, are unbeaten in seventeen games this season and have scored well over 100 goals, conceding an average of one per game.
Hardly knew they would be up against it from the kick off and were rueing Matt Carter's indiscipline last week, the tigerish midfielder's suspension ruling him out for this game, whilst Andy McEvoy returned after injury. Incidentily top scorer Ash Newman was up against his former club, having played for Lost Boys before linking up with Hardly.
It didn't take long for the Boys to take the lead, fantastic passing and movement leaving Athletic with no chance as precise finishing put the game out of Hardly's reach before half time, the score reaching 5-0 at the turn around.
Hardly had chances but shots were rushed and the Boys keeper kept the on target efforts at bay. Lost Boys continued to impress after the break and racked up a further six goals before the end ended the game with a shattered Hardly able to look forward to next weeks penultimate league game against Red Arrows.