EP's double reward for Milton victory

EP have also received a bye through the preliminary round after their scheduled opponents, Horley Town, were removed from the competition. EP Collect 500 prize money from the win but will not be awarded the 1,000 preliminary round money because they progressed with a bye.

They will now entertain either Metropolitan Police or Chessington & Hook in the first qualifying round on September 16. The winners of that match will receive 2,250 prize money.

The match turned on an incident early in the second half when, with the score 1-1, visiting keeper Gareth Walker handled outside his box in trying to thwart a raid on his goal. It was an action the referee deemed deliberate, and a red card was the inevitable consequence.

Until then, the game had been evenly contested. Soon after the kick-off Phil Churchill's shot was deflected into Milton's net, Walker diving gracefully in the wrong direction. Then the extremely tall Martin Fox equalised following a corner, shooting home at the fourth or fifth attempt.

For full report, see this week's Littlehampton Gazette.