Brentwood Town crash out of the fourth round of the Essex Senior Cup, after a 5-3 home defeat to Essex Senior League outfit Bowers and Pitsea.
Bowers gained a deserved three goal advantage before Brentwood got into the game, as Jack Gardner on his return grabbed a goal along with a Vinny Durrant goal for a 2-0 lead at the break.
An early second half wonder strike from Scott Pethers gave Pitsea a three goal lead, Arthur Rogers goal gave Brentwood a glimmer of hope. A Chris Bryan brace sealed their place in the next round cancelling out a Dwade James goal and a Charlie Portway free-kick.
George Borg kept only five players from his team that drew 1-1 at home to Farnborough with regulars Martyn Guest, Connor Hogan, Mitch Hahn, Dwade James and Nicky Symons starting, mixed with a youthful Brentwood side – with Steve Portway taking charge of Brentwood for the evening.
The Essex Senior side almost took the lead ten minutes in, as Vinny Durrants’ early cross was into the path of Lewis Manor whose shot was superbly parried away by Guest.
Brentwood had their first opportunity, as Connor Hogan bent a free-kick into the box for the unmarked Charlie Portway who headed into the hands of Dylan Skinner.
From the resulting save Bowers went down the other end and capitalised on Brentwood not dealing with their lines, as another dangerous cross caused panic in the box and on his return Gardner turned it in from a tight angle to lead.
Pitsea almost extended their advantage with a set piece in a central position on the edge of the box which Bryan bent goalwards and had to be tipped over the bar by Guest.
A loose ball fell to James on the edge of the box which he struck on target and Skinner spilled the initial shot but collected the loose ball.
The visitors doubled their lead shortly after, as Billy Sendall broke down the far flank and whipped a ball into the far post for the unmarked Durrant to smash into the net.
In the second half Bowers stunned Brentwood only a minute in, as Pethers burst forward from a clearance and struck a shot from 25 yards which went in – with Guest glued to the spot to give the visitors a three goal lead.
Brentwood gave themselves a lifeline four minutes later, as Portway fed in Rogers who coolly tucked in to give Brentwood a fighting chance.
The away side were given a penalty, as Baucutt slid in on Simon-Parsons giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Bryan stepped up and sent Guest the wrong way to restore their three goal lead.
Brentwood got their second virtually from the restart, with Baucutt making up for his miss-timed tackle with a superb ball into James who brought it down and his first time shot beat the keeper to go in off the post.
‘The Blues’ put Bowers under more pressure with two minutes remaining, as Portway’s free-kick bent into the top corner from 20 yards – to give Brentwood a glimmer of hope.
The away side clinched the tie in injury time, as Bryan ran through on goal from the half way line with the Brentwood defence committed and went round Guest and tucked it in to send them in the quarter-finals.
Brentwood Town Lineup: 1 Martyn Guest, 2 Ollie Bell, 3 Louis Baucutt, 4 Josh Banton, 5 Ryan O’Rawe, 6 Connor Hogan, 7 Arthur Rogers (45), 8 Shad Ngandu, 9 Charlie Portway, 10 Dwade James, 11 Nicky Symons ©
Substitutes: 12 John Burgess, 14 Ruben Duarte, 15 Liam Hope, 16 Andrew Freeman (45), GK James Alborough
Bowers and Pitsea: 1 Dylan Skinner, 2 Scott Pethers, 3 Vinny Durrant, 4 Billy Sendall (58), 20 Dan Trenkel, 6 Aaron Waters, 7 Aaron Russell, 8 Jack Gardner, 9 Lewis Manor, 10 Chris Bryan, 11 Alfie Hilton
Substitutes: 12 Julian Simon-Parsons, 14 Tom Hine (58), 15 Jamie Salmon, 16 Rob Whitnell, GK Lewis Godwin-Green
