Hitchin Town fell to a disappointing 5-0 defeat at the hands of National League South St Albans.

Despite fighting for the entire 90 minutes, Mark Burke's battling boys exited the FA Cup at the second qualifying round.

The scoreline flattered the Saints with the ten-men of Hitchin always struggling to reach parity after Shaun Jeffers' first half brace put Ian Allinson's side firmly in the driving seat following Max Ryan's early red card.

Three late second half goals - from Zane Banton, an own goal via Hitchin sub Kai Tearle and Saints' Joseph Chidyausiku made the final score deceptively harsh on the visitors.

Read on for Freddie Cardy's PLAYER RATINGS from Clarence Park on an afternoon to forget for Hitchin.

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Tiernan Parker: 6 - Excellent distribution out from the back by the Luton loanee, with no chance for many of the goals.

Max Ryan: 1 - Sent off in the 10th minute in his return to the side. Hitchin are not the same without Jack Green.

Layne Eadie: 6 - Looked his usual self on the left hand side, mopping up the mess created by Jhai Dhillon.

Ryan Smith: 5 - Josh Coldicott-Stevens arguably should have started over Smith today after Tuesday's thrashing, with the youngster never looking confident in the middle of the park.

Lawrie Marsh: 5.5 - Much like Green, Dan Webb's return to the side is much anticipated, as Marsh will be looking forward to putting his centre back days behind him.

Ben Walster: 6 - The stand-in captain bounced back well from the Rushden defeat, but had no success in playing out from the back.

Rio DaSilva: 5.5 - The attacking winger was forced to play right-back at Clarence Park after Ryan's red, and he was withdrawn for Alex Marsh an hour in.

Jhai Dhillon: 4.5 - Not his day at all, the winger lacked confidence on the ball and was fortunate that Layne Eadie could do the defensive work on the Hitchin's left.

Callum Stead: 5.5 - Looked most likely to score for the Canaries, but his decision making in the box was poor at times.

Luke Brown: 5.5 - Aggressive in his attack and should have won a penalty, but St Albans' midfield kept him quiet successfully.

Lewis Barker: 5.5 - Good to see LB returning to the Hitchin side, despite the midfielder picking up a second half yellow card.

Substitutes used:

Alex Marsh: 5 - Played some lovely defence-splitting passes after replacing DaSilva, but his impact was limited.

Marcus Gouldbourne: 4 - Came on with 10 minutes to go, and failed to get in behind the St. Albans defence.

Kye Tearle: 3 - Incredibly unfortunate with his own-goal near the end of the game, but he was silenced in midfield by the opposition.