Having won their last five at home, Weymouth felt they were in with a chance of causing a shock but it failed to materialise as Alfreton Town ruthlessly took advantage of the hosts’ inadequacies at the back in a dominant opening 45 minutes.

The Conference outfit were allowed to run amok and they made the Terras pay with five goals before coming out after the break and adding another with 13 minutes remaining.

It was a harsh lesson for the home side to stomach but in truth it was exactly what they deserved.

As a defensive unit they were a shambles from the outset and one has to question the way they were set up against a higher quality side with pace to burn up front.

The midfield quartet failed to provide adequate cover and the back four were left like lambs to the slaughter as the visitors’ attack revelled in the time and space they were afforded.

Ben Gerring, who replaced the cup-tied Alex Jeannin at the centre of the defence, looked a couple of yards short after 19 days without a game, and Ollie Tribe and Scott Dixon were bamboozled by the wingers, who kept darting inside and pulling them out of position.

However, midfielders Stephen Reed, Byron Napper, Craig Duff and Sam Malsom also have to shoulder a huge proportion of the blame for being second to everything in the middle of the park.

Reed, often the architect when Weymouth are at their best, was a shadow of the player that has orchestrated games in recent weeks and along with several others could have been accused of hiding in the early exchanges, such was the one-sided nature of the first half.

It took Alfreton just four minutes to open the scoring. Gerring failed to deal with a cross from the right and when his misguided header was nodded down by Anton Brown at the far post there was Nathan Jarman to volley home from just six yards.

Stoke City loanee Louis Moult was then denied twice in quick succession by a brave save from Nick Jordan and a last-ditch block by Tribe before Nathan Arnold added a second on 12 minutes.

The lively forward, who had just seen a long-range shot tipped over the bar, must have thought he was in dreamland as the Terras’ static defence just stood and watched as he juggled the ball on the turn before prodding a shot past a beleaguered Jordan.

Duff and Reed both should have done better to snuff out the danger, which initially came from a long throw from the left, but to give the Reds credit, they looked like scoring every time they poured forward such was the gulf in class.

It took just 13 more minutes for Arnold to add his second. A long ball out of defence saw the 24 year-old get in between Tribe and Gerring, and as the latter backed off into the box, the fleet-footed forward beat Jordan with the aid of a slight deflection.

The Terras looked flabbergasted but more pain was to follow with Jarman hammering a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box on 38 minutes after racing on to another pitiful attempt at a clearance from Reed.

Moult then converted a cross from Jamie Mullan in emphatic fashion in the dying seconds of the half to hammer home his side’s dominance even further as Weymouth fans began to fear just how many it would end up.

However, as so often happens in games like this, the second half was pretty much a non event. Weymouth threw on Jamie Beasley and Lewis Tasker in a bid to salvage some pride and although the hosts were a little more committed, their opponents also took their foot off the gas.

Warren Byerley, Duff and Beasley all went close to getting a consolation but the visitors could have had a few more goals too.

In the end the Reds had to settle for just one which saw substitutes Anthony Wilson and Paul Clayton combine at another long throw-in for the latter to the turn the ball in from close range with his thigh on 77 minutes.

There is no escaping the fact that this was a dismal way to bow out for the Terras but they can still take heart from their run in the competition, which saw them come through four rounds and bag £14,200 in prize money in the process – a decent achievement for such a young side.