Burgess Hill Town 2 Ware 0

On paper Ware looked to have a good chance in this match but once they got on to the well-prepared surface provided by the Hillians’ grounds man things were different. Their opponents played as if they were fitter and stronger and had the game by the throat for much of the ninety minutes.

Ware did have injury problems of which the most obvious was the absence of Calum Kitscha with knee trouble meaning that 17-year-old Ethan Gannon was called up. He faces a busy period despite having been rested for the under-18s league cup game the previous evening. Monday sees him with the under-23s, Tuesday possibly back with the first team for the Barking game and then Thursday at Leatherhead in the FA Youth Cup.

Aside from any possible injury he appears to be well equipped for the tasks ahead of him after a string of saves in this match of which a superb double stop in the 91st minute was merely the icing on the cake. Once he gets more confidence to command the penalty area and the senior players in front of him, he will be well set.

As Ware laboured against a home side that closed them down rapidly and then set their own men running with well placed passes it was another young player who stood out for the visitors. Finlay Titchmarsh looks to be growing into a good wing back with the ability to carry the ball forward when he gets the chance.

For all that Ware were two down after a quarter of an hour. Gannon had already made a good save at the foot of his post to turn a shot away for a corner before doing so again after five minutes. The second corner came over to his far post but it just didn’t get cleared by the defence and under pressure Aaron Smith-Joseph got his foot to the ball to send it into the net off the cross bar.

Ten minutes later it was 2-0 as the home side broke down their right. There was a suggestion (more than a suggestion as far as the Ware defence were concerned) that Louie Downey handled the ball as he attempted to go past Alaa Oujdi. It did appear as though the ball bounced up and hit Downey’s arm but if so the arm may have been close enough to his side to leave Mr Small the referee uninterested in any appeals.

Oujdi maintained his interest though and shadowed Downey across and into the penalty area but his tackle only succeeded in bringing the number two down. That did get the referee's attention and he had no choice but to point to the penalty spot from where a short while later Jordi Ndozid made it two-nil.

Ware did have their moment or two before the break and fashioned an opening in one of them on the half hour mark which saw the ball laid back to Liam Hope but his shot was blocked by a defender and the danger cleared.

Hope, only recently back from injury, had looked uncomfortable in the first half and was replaced for the restart by Tommy Wade whose job it seemed was to ruffle feathers in the home defence. The home defence gave as good as it got in that respect and when Nathan Cooper blocked Wade’s run the Ware man wrestled him out of the way which was enough for the referee to caution him.

The warning wasn’t taken and when Wade took the feet from under a home player twenty minutes later, he got his marching orders with another yellow card. Between those two events Tom Bruno had also picked up a second yellow with a high kick. The two Toms will now be banned from their next match in the FA Trophy but that won't be until next year.

It should be said that the nine men did not give up and had some good moments in which new signing Chris Arthur looked more than capable but they were still grateful to an offside flag and Gannon for keeping the score at two.

Ware: Ethan Gannon, Finlay Titchmarsh, Pat Adamson, Leigh Rose, Louis Rose, Dan Rumens, Marcus Milner (Chris Arthur 58mins), Tom Bruno, Liam Hope (Tommy Wade 46mins), Albert Adu, Alaa Oujdi (Yoav Sade 71mins). Unused subs: Reece Crowter, George Casey.