Winchester City 2 - 1 Eastleigh

Winchester City came from behind to beat Eastleigh in the Hampshire Senior Cup thus avenging defeats in the competition in 2005/06 and 2011/112.

The Eastleigh team consisted a mixture of first team squad members and youngsters.  Their best known players were Jamie Turley returning from injury, Lee Cook who once joined Fulham from QPR for £2.5 million, Jack Midson, Ross Lafayette and Matt Fanimo with Lewis Noice who has featured for the first time this season in goal.

Winchester for their part did not include Jack Smeeton, Jamie Thoroughgood or Leigh Mills with leading scorer Warren Bentley and Jake Neewton on the bench.

Eastleigh however opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when Joe Hayward set up Midson who made no mistake with a firm shot into the net.  During the remainder of the half Lewis Noice was tested a couple of times and Robbie Flooks came close for Winchester, while at the other end Fanimo had a couple of chances, while Eastleigh came close to adding a second when a Turley header from a corner came off the back of Midson.

Eastleigh deserved their interval lead, but Winchester bought on Warren Bentley in the second period and looked a better team as a result, although both goalkeepers were called into action before Harlan Basker levelled the scores in the 75th minute.  This goal gave Winchester confidence and they looked the more likely team to score again, coming close on a couple of occasions with Noice saving a penalty from Bentley.  Eastleigh had taken off a couple of their experienced players by this stage and Winchester looked the more likely winners and they finally won the tie with Basker setting up Bentley to score a late goal that put Winchester through to the quarter finals where they play Sholing.

There was a good crowd for this game with a sizeable representation from Eastleigh who also helped with the stewarding of the match.

Attendance 305