Stony Stratford

Epping were confident going into this game, despite Stony Stratford playing a step-up higher in the non-league pyramid than Epping, having played so well the previous week away at Tilbury in the Essex Premier Cup. However, that confidence was soon checked with the visitors exerting early pressure on the home team. Epping soon realised that they were in for a hard game against a well-organised side and it was no great surprise when Stony Stratford went into the lead after a quarter of an hour. Epping had limited chances and they should have equalised when Ash Conlan was put through but he shot tamely at the visiting keeper. Stony Stratford doubled their lead before half-time when a poor clearance fell to one of their forwards who comfortably beat Kevin Christou in the Epping goal. With a place in the next round slipping away from Epping, manager Neil Whitbread made two changes at half-time, bringing off midfielders Olly King and Danny Hopkins and replacing them with the returning Leon Rolle and forward Richard Hilson for his home debut. However, Epping were given a mountain to climb within 5 minutes of the restart when Phil Bulled put into his own net following a goalmouth scramble. Skipper Billy Saunders nicked a goal back almost straight away and whilst looked a better side in the second half the game was already won by the visitors.

The Gaffer said "We had a great opportunity to do well in this competition and after our fine win at Tilbury I really felt we could progress. But take nothing away from Stony Stratford, they were a well-organised and disciplined side who did the right things in the right areas, something which our players could learn from. We were 2nd best all over the park really and they just had that extra bit of qualiity and know-how."