There was early pressure from Ware after the start of this game, Vinnie Gidden forcing a save out of Luke Kyle at the expense of a corner after seven minutes. Ware continued to dominate as they closed Leatherhead down quickly and kept the ball in their opponents' half with some good passing.

It seemed a goal had to come but there were a couple of sudden breaks by the home side ten minutes in which were a warning to Ware. They seemed to have taken the message on board two minutes later when Reece Crowter's neat back heel let in Cameron Meadows whose cross into the six yard area was met perfectly by Tommy Shepherd to head home comfortably.

It was a good opening spell but Leatherhead slowly pulled themselves back into contention with their own accurate passing and strong tackling. Ware were finding it harder to keep control as the home side started to match them and by the half hour mark Ethan Gannon was in the thick of things with two good saves in quick succession.

Ware were now being pressured into mistakes and were giving the ball away too easily. There was little surprise when Leatherhead found an equaliser with Ellis Pringle on the end of a defence splitting pass to hit home off Gannon's hand and the cross bar just before the break.

Ware seemed to start the second period well but just two minutes in Leatherhead broke and might have done better than shoot wide with only Gannon to beat. But they got the lead on 53 minutes when a loose ball across the field was chased down for Ryan Trevitt to score from close range.

It was 3-1 four minutes later when Trevitt scored his second from a free kick and he then completed a ten minute hat trick when Umit Akdag got to the by line to pull the ball back for him.

Ware seemed to be falling apart but the introduction of Harry Maslin on 70 minutes had an immediate effect. With almost his first touch of the game he looped the ball into the home goal area and there was nothing Kyle could do about as it found the top corner of the net. Suddenly hope was revived and Leatherhead lost their composure as Ware pushed forward looking for another goal. It almost came after a 75th minute corner when the ball was cleared from the home goal line twice in a matter of moments.

But with Ware's tails up they were caught on the break on 84 minutes when Jamie Pike benefited from the absence of the Ware defence to restore his side's three-goal lead. But it only lasted two minutes with Maslin getting his second after good work by Shepherd.

Even so it was another break on 88 minutes that caught too many Ware players upfield and this time Matteo Adler was the beneficiary to complete the scoring.

All was not quite over however. As Crowter was bringing the ball out of defence he received close attention from two opponents. Although he got away from them the ball was lost and Crowter must have been like those in the crowd who expected a free kick to be given. None was and Crowter took out his frustration on an opponent leading ultimately to him being sent off.

A disappointment for Ware but Leatherhead played and deserve good fortune in the next round at Gillingham.

Ware: Ethan Gannon, Ethan Daniels, Cameron Meadows, Eddie Connolly, Cory Rodriguez, Vinnie Giddens (Ian Ngugi 63mins), Rechan Esprit (Noah Southwell 57mins), Tommy Shepherd, Luke Di Rubbo (Harry Maslin 70mins), Reece Crowter.