A sombre North Warnborough travelled away with some trepidation about what could happen against the mighty unbeaten Silchester Village on Saturday in round 2 of the Peter Raynbird Cup, writes Tony Spencer, but Warnborough did start the match brightly.

After only nine minutes Ben Daniell was egged on by his teammates to "have a go" from just outside the area and he lobbed the keeper for a 0-1 lead. Two minutes later Liam Self drifted in from the right shooting into the far corner 0-2 to Warnborough.

Play then evened up, with Silchester pressing, helped by Warnborough's playmaker Ryan O’Driscoll being sin-binned and Max Ashby asked to leave the field for treatment with blood showing.

Despite being down to nine players for nearly 10 minutes Warnborough held on until the 35th minute when Silchester’s pressure paid off and they scored at the near post from short range. Not put off by this and just before half-time, Self took a chance from a distance that beat the keeper who strayed off his line, 1-3.

Silchester piled on the pressure after the break, but Warnborough defended well and controlled the midfield. Self found time and space on the edge of the box to smash into the top corner 1-4. Still frustrated Silchester pressed and were denied a penalty by the Referee, but she did gift Silchester a goal that the Assistant Referee had ruled offside, which Silchester appeared to agree with but, because he couldn’t give the shirt number of the offending player, the Referee awarded the goal 2-4.

Then Silchester’s keeper came out to get the ball but didn’t make it, allowing Self to get his 4th goal, 2-5. Silchester were still dangerous and had the quality to create chances and soon found the back of the net 3-5. Buoyed by that goal they came back again, denied by a great save from Sam Belcher.

In a frantic last 10 minutes Khalil Bentaleb forced a great save from Silchester’s keeper, then Warnborough were denied a penalty shout.

It was end-to-end football and Daniell blasted past Silchester’s keeper from inside the box for 3-6.

With the game almost over Silchester grabbed a final goal 4-6 but had to endure their first defeat of the season, with Stephen Burgess, Matt Fulton, Mario Nurse and Dan Vickers scoring.

Big win for Warnborough, their fourth in a row, and credit to the whole team who all gave all and played on top form.

Basingstoke and District Sunday Football League

After going behind in their North Hants Chris Price Cup tie Hartley Sunday stunned visitors Fulflood United with four goals before half-time from Emeka Nwaubani, sub Arran Haslett, Matt Lewis and Aaron Richardson. Early in the second half Carl Allwork and sub Leuan Atkinson added a goal each to the final scoreline 6-1, giving Hartley three wins in a row.

In Division 2 Eastrop Eagles' run of six wins came to an end at home, despite leading 2-1 at the interval. Visitors North Warnborough The Anchor turned the match around to win 3-4, their third win in a row, thanks to a brace from Dan McNaughton and singles from Kieran Conway and Dan Willis.