Ware 1 Hemel Hempstead 4

There was no repeat of the outcome the last time these two met in the county’s premier knock out competition nor of their last meeting of any kind when Ware progressed in the FA Cup at the Tudors’ expense.

Despite conceding an early goal from Reece Grant, Ware were soon back in the contest when Kieran Bishop opened his latest account with the club. With his back to goal, he turned on Jack Dreyer’s header to fire in from outside the six yard area.

Bishop continued to show some good touches on the ball and Ware might have taken the lead but Richard Ennin couldn’t quite get his head to David Sota’s cross. Hahn was then just over with a volley from Liam Dulson’s pass as Ware seemed to be enjoying a good share of the game.

It didn’t last and as the visitors returned to the attack Fred Burbidge was forced into an excellent save, pushing the ball out but only as far as Joe Iaciofano who swept the loose ball into the net. Iaciofano doubled his tally giving Burbidge no chance with a glancing header from a free kick.

Both sides made changes for the second half and made further changes through the half without influencing the score. At this point Burbidge went down with a knee injury and despite treatment was taken off, no doubt with Saturday’s league game in mind.

There being no substitute keeper, Michael Toner put on the gloves and Ramiah Mills took to the field. Hemel were now in control without extending themselves but added a fourth goal when Brad Smith left Toner grasping at thin air with a fierce shot.

Ennin was again near to converting a cross, this time from Stefanos Georgiou, but James Taylor gathered it. In truth he had little to do in a game in which Ware built some good approaches but seemed unable to provide the finishing touch beyond Bishop’s goal.

Sixteen-year-old Jamie Ford came on for his Ware debut in the last twenty minutes. The youth side’s ability to provide candidates for the first team is one of the pluses from a disappointing evening which left a question mark over the goal keeper position for Saturday’s game with Hadley.

Ware: Fred Burbidge (Ramiah Mills 68mins), Stefanos Georgiou, David Sota, Mitch Hahn, Ekow Coker, Dan Rumens, Richard Ennin, Michael Toner, Kieran Bishop (Jamie Ford 70mins), Jack Dreyer (Gabriel Chapps 46mins), Liam Dulson (Joe Dearman 62mins). Unused sub: Freddy Moncur.