NINETEEN non-league football players and their management team - hailed as heroes when they made it into the second round of the FA Cup - voted last night to resign from their club in a row over pay.

Harrogate Railway, North Yorkshire, scaled new heights in the competition this season, when 3,000 turned out to see the televised match which they lost 3-1 against high-flying Bristol City.

Railway's first team squad were expecting £1,000 each as their share of the £100,000 Sky TV money.

But they said they had since been told the cash was offered as a winning bonus and, as they lost the match, they have no claim.

The players subsequently reduced their demand to £500 each but, after they were offered £200, the players decided to meet at Harrogate hotel last night, where they voted unanimously to turn their backs on the club.

Last night, manager Paul Marshall said: "I am distraught. I hope I can keep the side together somewhere else. But at this moment I feel disillusioned.

"I think I will be taking a bit of a rest, then I'll look for another job in the game. I just don't want to see these lads not playing football."

In normal league matches, the players said they had been paid £25 a week.

The team's spokesman, Ian Hart, said: "We met for a sombre meeting but were united we would all leave the club.

"We're all just gutted. But we decided that we would resign together - the manager, assistant manager and player coach, along with all the first team squad."

Club secretary Mick Gray confirmed that the players were on a £1,000 win bonus if they beat Bristol City, but had since been offered £200 as a thank you for their efforts.