A youthful, depleted squad - with seventeen first-team regulars unavailable - put in a respectable performance on the road at Halstead Town, and will feel hard done by the fact that they fall to defeat at the lottery of a penalty shootout, following a score-draw in the regulatory ninety.

Oliver Khayyat gave The Woods the lead with just over a quarter of an hour on the clock, but we were pegged back just four minutes later as George Smith struck for The Humbugs. In front of the 120 in attendance, there was no further action in regulatory time, meaning the tie would culminate with a shootout, which the hosts won.

Pharrell Chinyere, making his first appearance since our 3-0 loss in the Roding Valley Derby at the end of December, was unable to save any of the four Halstead penalties, and from the five we took, two were missed, meaning the hosts progress to the semi-final.

Starting XI: Chinyere (GK), Mitchell-Nelson, Khayyat, Kebe; Weekes, Owusu (C), Lusardi, Effah; Ahmed, Allison, Protic.

Subsititutes: Odetoyinbo, Ozdemir, Roberts, Tea.