Let me start by saying what a wonderful club Billingshurst are. The people? Spot on. The grounds? Excellent. The burgers? Top drawer. And if you’re familiar with non-league football, you’ll know just how much we appreciate a good car park.

Now, onto the football. On paper, with the Crows two steps above Billingshurst (Step 4 v Step 6), you might expect a straightforward evening. But Billingshurst had other ideas. They came out strong, with purpose and fight, and made it clear early on that nothing was going to be given easily.

The Crows did strike first, though. In the 12th minute, Ajao opened the scoring with a clean, composed finish. Just five minutes later, in the 17th, he doubled his tally, giving the travelling side a two-goal cushion.

But Billingshurst weren’t rattled. A foul on the edge of the box went unnoticed, and in the 19th minute the hosts pounced to pull one back. From there, it was end-to-end. Grant in goal was kept busy, producing some sharp saves to keep us ahead and the Crows kept pressing in an attempt to bump up the score line.

45 minutes hit and we went into half time Bllingshurst 1–2 Crowborough.

The second half began with more drama. Ajao thought he had his hat-trick in the 48th minute, only to see it ruled out for offside. He didn’t have to wait long, thoug! On 54 minutes, he made it official, completing his first hat-trick in a Crows shirt and restoring the two-goal lead.

But again, Billingshurst bit back almost instantly, scoring just two minutes later (56’) to keep the game alive. The hosts never stopped pressing, showing real character throughout.

The Crows, however, found the finishing edge in the later parts of the second half Muggeridge added a fourth in the 64th minute, before substitute Forster wrapped it up in the 87th, having only been on the pitch a short while.

Final score: Billingshurst 2–5 Crowborough Athletic.

The X updates were out of sync for who knows why!? One minute we were 2-1 up, then suddenly back to 2-0. Don’t ask me how that works, clearly X hated me last night. So apologies for that bit of chaos. It was going out as it happen but... technology!

All in all, a competitive night of football against a spirited Billingshurst side, and the Crows safely into the next round.