Axell at the double as EP make last eight

With the Lashmar still suffering the effects of the recent adverse weather, this game was played at Worthing’s Woodside Road.

EP started slowly and were immediately pegged back as Rye centre-half Ryan Alexander nodded home from close range after just four minutes from a Sam Adams free kick on the right.

Alex Duncan then saved his side from going further behind after 11 minutes with a timely goal-line clearance as the home side remained all at sea.

The game meandered with a string of misplaced passes until a rare moment of quality saw Matt Axell curl a free kick over the wall and past Rye keeper Josh Willis to bring EP level with six minutes to go until the break.

Axell was coming into his own as he sent a fizzing cross in from the left a minute into stoppage time that the Rye backline only just managed to hack clear.

The second half continued in the same vein with both sides opting to freshen things up with the introduction of substitutes, and it was one of EP’s replacements, Richard Hudson, who had a golden chance to volley home from six yards out after 66 minutes, but his effort found the car park rather than the net.

The key moment of the half came in the second minute of injury-time as the much-travelled Anthony Storey carried the ball across the EP box only to be halted by a marginally late Billy Franks right boot. The striker made a meal of the challenge and the referee opted to show Franks an undeserved straight red card.

Adams’ free kick was blocked by the wall only for Storey to be upended again, this time by Lee Barnard, in a challenge that arguably deserved a red card, but the midfielder got off scot-free. This time Adams beat the wall but not Anthony Ender, who palmed the ball away for a corner.

Extra-time ensued with seemingly little hope of anything but a penalty shoot-out, although the visitors did look the more likely to score and had two decent half-chances early on.

The winner, however, came for the hosts as Hudson brought a free kick in the 114th minute on the edge of the Rye area and Axell’s resulting free kick took a wicked deflection to leave Willis helpless and see EP through to a tie at either Loxwood or Eastbourne Town.

A delighted EP boss Dominic Di Paola said: “The boys were brilliant tonight against a decent side. I felt we deserved the win, especially as we were forced into an early change. We’ve played better and drawn, in all honesty, but we’ve finally beaten a top side.

“We have to accept that teams aren’t going to just roll over against us now and tonight we did that. I’m proud of the lads.”