next_posts_link 404 error

Hi All

I’m working on a blog that has a featured post on the home page, followed by a grid of other non-featured posts below it.

The structure is more or less as follows :

<?php
// necessary for the tags to show up in a custom loop
global $wp_query;
$wp_query->in_the_loop = true; 

// custom loop
$q_featured = new WP_Query('&category_name=featured&showposts=1');
while ($q_featured->have_posts()) : $q_featured->the_post();
$do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;
?>

// featured posts
<?php endwhile; ?>

<?php
query_posts($query_string . '&cat=-9');
if (have_posts()): while(have_posts()) : the_post();
if( $post->ID == $do_not_duplicate ) continue;
?>

// non featured posts

<?php endwhile; endif; ?>

It’s 99.9% there, except that the next_posts_link function adds an extra page – it shows a third page when there are only two, which causes a 404 error. The first two pages work fine.

Anyone else had a similar problem?