Whitchurch Alport’s exit from the Emirates FA Cup at the hands of Leek Town on Saturday, could not take away the sense of pride around Yockings Park.

The 2-0 defeat was probably a fair reflection of the tie, although Alport missed a glorious chance to make it 1-1 with just five minutes to play.

But it was off the pitch where club officials were celebrating with an incredible record-breaking attendance at the Black Park Road Stadium of almost 800, saw crowds stretching from the turnstiles to the road in unprecedented scenes.

“It proves that we are doing something right when you can attract those kinds of numbers,” said Alport manager, Luke Goddard.

“It proves there is potential here and we’ve done well in terms of attendances over the last three years. We’ve beaten our record crowd set last year in the play-off final and I think we’ve done the town proud and the North West Counties League proud.

"There was a good following from Leek but obviously we managed to get a few locals in as well. Hopefully, they would have liked what they saw and they might come back again.

"There was some good football played and the overall experience is one we hope they enjoyed. It takes a lot to stage an event like this one and this is where our volunteers excel.

"You can’t put a price on a volunteer, they’re like gold dust and we’re damn proud of ours who are a huge part of this club.”

On the pitch, Goddard was equally proud of his players after going toe to toe with Leek who the Reds boss described as a huge club.

“We proved that we were more than a match for them,” he said. “In the first half you couldn’t tell that the teams competed at different levels and we gave as much as we got.

"We expected them to come out all guns blazing in the second half and that’s exactly what happened. Their first goal had a huge slice of luck because the deflection completely wrong-footed Dave Parton who had a terrific game for us.

"After that it was like the Alamo sometimes and Parts certainly kept us in the game.”

Parton might have been the busier of the two goalkeepers but having weathered the storm, it was his opposing number that Leek were indebted to in the closing stages of the match.

“That was definitely the turning point in the match,” said Goddard. “Danny Roberts had already made a magnificent save from Jud Ellis in the last 10 minutes and that was certainly our best spell in the game.

"I’ve spoken before about us being clinical and we weren’t today. When Jonah [Steve Jones] was played through with five minutes to go, I think everyone in the ground held their breath.

"To be fair, I don’t think we could have chosen anyone else on the park that we would have preferred the chance to fall to. He’s gutted in there because he knows he should have scored and if he had’ve done maybe the course of the game might have changed.”

Soon after Jones missed his chance, the away side doubled their advantage and killed the game off.

Perfectionist Goddard was still critical in the manner in which Leek scored, He said: “We were in possession in our half but we’ve given the ball away too easily and they’ve punished us.

"That’s what sides at this level do to you. Overall, I couldn’t fault my players for effort. There’s a sense of disappointment but we will reflect over the course of the next few days and dust ourselves down before we go again.

"In a week’s time we host Nuneaton Griff in the Vase before a league game 48 hours later so there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.”

The work being done at Yockings Park was recognised by the club winning the Macron club of the month award in the Premier Division.

Six wins and one draw from seven matches played in August earned Alport the accolade for the second time, after winning the First Division award in the play-off campaign last year.

Saturday’s match against Nuneaton Griff gets underway at 3pm.