Several people who were at the game have messaged me to say what a great evening's entertainment and despite the scoreline being 0-0 at the end of 90mins the general consensus was that it had been a good game to watch. The sad thing is we won't be playing again for a month.

Lagney Wanderers have been having a tough time of it in the league but we were under no illusion this would be an easy cup upset, as Simon Colbran has recently been installed as the new manager and his teams are organised, well drilled and go the distance.

Well this match certainly went the full 12 rounds and the effort and energy from both teams was quite staggering at times as neither would give in to the pressure they were exerting on each other. It's fair to say we had the better chances in the first half and were so unlucky not to take the lead after Joe Keehan flicked a header which the goalie managed to paw away with the ball nearly over the line.

I can't stress the pace and enrgy that both sets of players were commiting to this cup fixture, it was relentless and competitive. Kev and Lol picked up a couple of bookings for full bloodied tackles with no quarter given but with no malice. Langney were not frightened to 'put it about' and the ref Mark Gidman did well to let the game flow but also keep control.

The second half proved as lively as the first and Lagney started to put our defence under increasing pressure but they stood firm and it wasn't until the last 20 that any clear cut chances were created, a cross shot that Matt Gotel did well to tip over, a header that deflected onto the bar and the best chance a flurry of efforts which ended in a drilled shot which Matt somehow managed to dive across a block with his mid drift.. well a little bit lower than his mid drift actually which brought tears to his eyes.

We had enough possession but didn't really create any clear cut chances until Tommy came on and caused some chaos in their area which they eventually managed to clear. The whistle went and a healthy crowd applauded a good game.

The lottery of penalties and as Lagney went out in both the FA Vase and FA Cup to penalties I suppose we can begrudgingly except their win 4-3 on pens. They missed their first pen which gave us false hope and then Alfie missed our fourth and Kev with the 5th penalty decided to aim at the moon... which I think he hit. We weren't to downbeat after the game, just sad to know we have to take a break. let's hope it is just a month.

All the best to Langney in the next round.

MOM Matt Gotel