FA TROPHY: Cambridge beat Crawley in replay

Nationwide South promotion chasers Cambridge City beat Conference play-off contenders Crawley Town in their FA Trophy Fourth Round replay on Tuesday night, and deserved their victory according to Crawley boss Francis Vines.

After drawing the first match 3-3, Cambridge booked their place in the fifth round - where they will host Nationwide North side Hucknall Town - with a 2-1 win at the Broadfield Stadium, as first-half goals from Carl Williams and Matt Robinson were enough to see them through.

Vines admitted afterwards: "We got what we deserved from that - absolutely nothing. I would agree that it was our worst performance of the year at home, in fact, I would agree with just about anything you could say about it.

"What went wrong is that the players seem to think they are better than they are. The draw gave us a great opportunity to be in a position to reach the last eight but the players obviously didn't see it that way."

The Conference side were in a great run of form, with Vines having just been named Nationwide Manager of the Month for January, but the young boss admitted his team could expect to keep winning games after going behind, as they have their last four matches.

"That has been coming," he conceded. "For the last four or five games we have been getting out of jail - even at Farnborough when we were 3-0 up we let in two late goals.

"We gave away a pathetic first goal that could have been cleared by either Sacha Opinel or Robert Watkins but they both looked at each other when the odds were probably 70:30 in our favour. For the second goal Phil Smith punched it in the air and though the guy did well to head it in I'd like to know who was marking him."

As Cambridge look forward to their meeting with Hucknall in the last 16 of the competition, Crawley's attentions now turn back to the Conference, with an important game coming on Saturday against play-off rivals Woking.

Vines declared: "I don't want to think about the Woking game yet. They will have gone away thinking they only have to turn up on Saturday to beat us on that performance."

He added: "Cambridge probably weren't as good as they were on Saturday but we were far worse than on Saturday. We kept on going tonight but all through we kept making the wrong choices, holding on to the ball too long and not attacking headers. Their strikers are lively but our defenders have looked after bigger and better players than them in the Conference."

In the night's other replay, Southern League Premier strugglers Stamford edged out Isthmian League side Walton & Hersham, winning 2-0 on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

Stamford will entertain FA Cup heroes Exeter in the next round, hoping to cause an upset to rival the Grecians' 0-0 draw at Old Trafford last month.

The updated draw for the fifth round of the FA Trophy is:

Altrincham vs Grays Athletic
Burton Albion vs Morecambe
Cambridge City vs Hucknall Town
Canvey Island vs Bishop's Stortford
Eastwood Town vs Hereford United
Gravesend & Northfleet vs Slough Town
Stamford vs Exeter City
Woking vs Carlisle United