STRATFORD Town suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat away at lower division Anstey Nomads in the first round of the FA Trophy.
The Bards suffered an upset defeat against the Step Four side at Cropston Road with Anstey plying their trade one level below Stratford.
A hat-trick from Liam Murphy left the visitors stunned before Ronnie Kokkinos completed the scoring late on for the Northern Premier League Midlands side.
Anstey’s squad featured former Leicester City and England striker David Nugent with the veteran one-cap wonder named on the bench.
Despite the final scoreline, the Bards made a positive start with Jack Storer just unable to turn home Harry Reilly’s cross.
And Reilly then saw his corner cleared off the line by Tobias Liversidge.
However, Anstey broke the deadlock on eight minutes when Murphy headed in from close range after good work from Tendai Chitiza down the left.
And Murphy doubled the home side’s lead three minutes after half time as the striker drove a shot into the bottom right corner from just inside the penalty area.
Murphy completed his hat-trick in style on 63 minutes as he lobbed the ball over Jake Weaver into the left corner of the goal from the edge of the box.
And Kokkinos compounded Stratford’s misery on 84 minutes with a composed finish from eight-yards out as he dummied three defenders and the goalkeeper before finding the net.
Stratford are next in action against Real Bedford on Saturday, November 1 with kick-off at 3pm at the Arden Garages Stadium.
