NELSON bowed out of the Worthington Challenge Trophy despite a fighting performance against last year's winners Formby at Brows Lane.
The Blues had the worst possible start when Formby's Paul Guy opened the scoring with an angled shot which found the top corner of the Nelson goal after only three minutes.
John Bailey's side, however, dominated the first half and deservedly drew level when Andy Bannister headed home Stuart Mulligan's cross after 13 minutes.
In an end-to-end game Nelson frequently looked the better side and promised to find the killer punch.
However, Formby's counter-attacks always threatened and Neal Smith twice struck the Blues crossbar with shots on the break in the second half.
Eventually the inevitable happened and Phil Toale forced the ball home from a corner to give the home side the lead at 2-1 after 85 minutes.
As Nelson pushed forward for an equaliser, Formby broke again and Paul Guy scored their third goal to seal the victory.
RESULT: FORMBY...3 NELSON...1
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