It may not be enough to hire some professional footballers for even a day, but the £7,500 of prize money on offer to winners in the FA Cup third qualifying round makes a major difference to a non-league club.

There was evidence of this immediately after Bath City's defeat to Aylesbury United on Saturday as manager John Relish and chairman Geoff Todd entered into a long conversation on the pitch.

As it turned out, there may have been more to this chat than the chairman asking Relish to explain his side's failure to beat a side that, although they went into the match on a seven-match winning streak in all competitions, play their football in Division 1 Midlands of the BGB Southern League, two steps below City.

And there was a need for explanation, as the expected gap in quality between the two sides was not in evidence for much of a game which saw the hosts frustrated by a well-organised and energetic side on a sunny October afternoon.

The start was promising enough for City, with Jamie Gosling and Adam Connolly finding space but unable to find a telling ball.

When Aylesbury's diminutive goalkeeper Tom Vincent did flap at a dangerous Connolly cross, Hogg could not get the ball under control to get a shot in.

However, even in the first 15 minutes there were signs that it would not be an easy ride for City, with Paul Evans rushing from his line after a mistake in midfield nearly allowed visiting striker Craig Henney through.

The City midfield swapped places throughout the game, with Lewis Hogg seemingly trying every position.

When he eventually settled in the centre later in the game he picked out three expert passes, the best of which found Danny Carey-Bertram, whose left-shot was saved by a well-positioned Vincent.

Despite their continued efforts, though, the Ducks defence was never opened up by City and on the only occasion either defence was left short, the decisive goal was scored.

Henney raced clear on the left, drew Evans from his goal and slid the ball across for strike partner Glen Hawkins to tap into an empty net.

Although there was still plenty of time left at this stage, City were restricted to half-chances until a frantic final five minutes saw the Aylesbury goal live a charmed life.

The Ducks were indebted to central midfielder Liam Smyth and keeper Vincent as first Smyth cleared off the line from City substitute Darren Edwards and then the two Aylesbury players combined to stop Dave Gilroy's close-range effort.

It is hard to say whether more matches under his belt would have made Gilroy any more likely to have converted his chance, but a striker who scored 23 times in the Blue Square South last season might have been expected to find the target.

City's last chance seemed to have gone when Mark Badman found himself in acres of space running towards the penalty area, only to give the ball away as he tried to play substitute Stuart Douglas in.

However, there was time for more drama as, in the fourth minute of injury time, a Hogg free-kick curled out of reach of the keeper but hit the crossbar and bounced down the wrong side of the line for City.

Over the course of the game, City had enough chances to consider themselves unlucky to have lost, but Aylesbury did enough to show that they will not be an easy side to remove from the FA Cup.