History had already been made before our trip to Flackwell Heath on Saturday. The first ever meeting between the two sides, the furthest either side have ever reached in the competition and the first time that two ‘Heath’s’ had ever met in the FA Trophy.

A healthy crowd of 237 had turned up to witness the occasion but for the Bears it will be one match they’d sooner forget.

The hosts created the first goal scoring opportunity in the 13th minute when Michael Harding, coming in from the left, struck a right foot shot which the Bears keeper Billy Collings cleared at the near post.

But Collings could do nothing to prevent the opening goal midway through the half when Jamie Ayres ran into a Heath defender and dramatically fell to the ground inside the penalty area, the match referee immediately pointed to the spot and Wiktor Makowski stepped up to convert the resulting spot kick.

It was all square 5 minutes before the break when Louis Evans was fouled some 35 yards from goal, Jamie Chesworth floated the free-kick from the right towards the far post where Tad Bromage rose above everyone to head the ball back across goal to Jake Lindsey in acres of space who picked his spot to convert from close range, all level at the interval.

The hosts restored their lead within minutes of the restart when Ayres tried his luck with a right foot shot that was only half cleared by a Bears defender and Ryan Avery pounced on the loose ball to turn and strike a right foot shot that came off Collins at the near post and into the net.

The hosts scored their third minutes later from yet another penalty, this time Kyle Sim judged to have fouled Jamie Ayres and once again Makowski stepped up to score from the spot.

3 soon became 4 when in the 58th minute Ayres was once again in action, this time receiving the ball on the corner of the penalty area wide on the left, and the Flackwell Heath striker hit a superb right foot curler around Collings into the far corner of the net.

Chris Simmons immediately made three substitutions in an attempt to change the game and on 65 minutes the Bears were denied a goal when Jake Lindsey played the ball into the path of Salvatore Marino who converted from 6 yards only to then be denied by the match referee who’d blown his whistle a split second earlier for a Flackwell player lying injured on the floor.

It was game over for the Bears in the 74th minute when Billy Collings footwork let him down allowing Jake Shakespeare to rob him of the ball and tap it in to an empty net. Shakespeare scored his second and his teams sixth with 10 minutes remaining, when he received the ball wide on the right and made a direct run down the flank before cutting in and firing a low right foot shot past Collings at the near post.

A really disappointing second half performance from Chris Simmons side who on the day were nowhere near their best.

Next up a home league game against Lancing on Saturday 28th Sept.

Team: Collings, Sim (Terry 60), Chesworth, Penfold (Buchanan 70), Bromage (Waddingham 70), Marino, Dowdell (Leslie 60), Parmiter, Evans, Hay (Lemon 60), Lindsey.