Sam Allison believed his goal would put Chippenham Town into the play-off final before Halesowen's late rally denied them.
The Bluebirds striker had been only on the pitch seven minutes, after replacing Scott Lye, before he volleyed the visitors in to a 66th minute lead.
Ross Adams' sending off five minutes later turned the game as Dean Brennan scored the resulting penalty and Eldon Maquemba netted a wonderful winner 11 minutes from time.
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But when he scored, Allison was convinced the Bluebirds were on their way to the final at Team Bath on Saturday.
He said: "When we scored, I thought that was it. It gave us more confidence and we had more time on the ball and we could pass it about.
"They missed a few chances and put us under pressure. It looked like it was going to be one of those games where one team missed loads of chances and the other takes one and wins the game.
"But another long ball over the top caught us out, their player got behind us and Ross did his best but unfortunately the referee gave a penalty."
The Bluebirds had started to gain a foothold in the game during the second half, following a first half dominated by the hosts, and Allison says the team knew they had to raise the tempo.
"Coming out for the second half we knew we had to raise our game," he said.
"I am not sure whether they did any research after Tuesday but the seemed to get the ball back to front a lot quicker.
"It made it more difficult for us but we could have won."
But the 27-year-old is remaining philosophical after the third play-off defeat of his Bluebirds career.
"It is just another one of those days," he said. It is hard to take but that is football.
"One minute you could be up and the next you could be down and that is why we love the game so much."
And now Allison, who scored 13 times during the campaign, believes the Bluebirds have to avoid more play-off failure next season.
"We just have to go again next season and eradicate the mistakes," he said.
"We can't go through the play-offs we, we have to try and win it. We just have to make sure we pick the younger players up."
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