Easington had to work hard to secure the victory against Newent Town in the Bluefin Supplementary Challenge Cup yesterday. An early goal from Joe Coleman and another just minutes into the second half from Joe Eyre put Sports through to the next round of the cup.

This was a keenly contested game played in the right spirit for the full 90 minutes. On a sticky surface both sides tried to get the ball down to pass, although the game had scrappy spells as the pitch began to cut up making things more difficult. Sports took an early lead after a good start to the game. Joe Eyre drifted out wide and after being played through he crossed to the far post for Joe Coleman to slide in for a tap in. Unfortunately for Coleman, he injured himself sliding into the post and had to come off minutes later. Easington looked a threat from set pieces and there were further efforts on goal and headers just over the bar.

Newent were certainly not out of the game and Adam Rimmer made to excellent one on one saves at crucial times to maintain Sports’ narrow lead into the break.

Easington started the second half brighter than the first and doubled their advantage in the 49th minute. Sports took the lead from a well worked move and a neat one-two between Convey and Eyre. Convey slipped a neat pass inside the full back for Joe Eyre to run onto and he finished well striking across the keeper into the far corner. Convey continued to influence the game with his range of passing and Craig Robinson provided a physical presence up front allowing Joe Eyre and Henry Rose more freedom to play on the second balls and knock downs from the target man. Eyre continued to exploit the space in behind the full back for the rest of the half and cut back a number of his trade mark balls which Easington players could not make the right contact with to extend the lead further.

Manager Ben Milner can certainly be pleased with the overall outcome of the game but knows his side will be in for another tough game when they face the same opposition away from home next week in the league.

Easington will now face another unknown opposition from the eastern section of the Hellenic League in the next round of the cup. Sports have a home tie against Langley.

Full team details can be found here.