By Andrew Finch

The Moles fell behind when Gavin Bainch finished off a breakaway goal to give the Fizzers the lead on twenty minutes and Sean Latimer's terrific free kick doubled their advantage two minutes after the re-start. Substitute Arnold Tawonezvi pulled one back midway through the second half and Kristian Webb appeared to have forced extra time when his effort came back off the post and went in off a defender with just five minutes left to play. However the Moles were dealt a sucker punch when Glenn Faircloth caught the back four square and calmly lobbed the ball over Wester Young to see the Fizzers through to the quarter finals.

The Moles had scored ten goals in their two previous visits to Bottom Meadow in 2012, and having won six of their past seven games in all competitions one or two of the players were possibly guilty of thinking they already had one foot in the quarter final before a ball had even been kicked.

However, this was a vastly superior Sandhurst side to the one that Molesey hammered 6-1 just 66 days previously, and for the first hour the home side were sharper to the ball and swifter to use it. Molesey dominated the last half hour but can have no complaints at their exit having only really turned up once they went two goals down.

Luke Bradnick made his first start for the club following his recent move from Guildford City, Sam Lampard made his first start since rejoining, and Manny Quarshie was preferred to Joe Grant and Tawonezvi at the apex of the attack, however, the Moles badly missed the presence of Joe Pratley-Jones in midfield, unavailable due to work commitments.

A fine team move involving Lampard and Tim Pitt resulted in Tom Windsor shooting narrowly over early on, and the same player then shot wide from distance when maybe a pass to Lampard or Quarshie would have proved more effective.

The home side took the lead when Lewis Ackerman surrendered possession cheaply just inside Sandhurst territory and Latimer tore down the Molesey left. With the Moles midfield sauntering back at their own pace the ball was pulled back to Bainch on the edge of the box who had the freedom of Bottom Meadow to place the ball past Young.

The Fizzers ripped through the Moles defence again shortly afterwards but luckily Latimer's first touch from Bainch's cross was heavy and the ball trickled harmlessly past Young's goal.

Ackerman fired a dangerous cross between keeper and defence but just beyond the onrushing Quarshie and Windsor but too often the Moles were wasteful in possession and Ashley West in the home goal was rarely troubled.

The Moles responded at the break by replacing Bradnick with Nick White and the very out-of-sorts Quarshie with Tawonezvi, however, Tawonezvi's first contribution was to surrender possession inside his own half, resulting in Dean Thomas clumsily bringing down Faircloth 25 yards from goal.

Latimer stepped up and although his free kick was powerfully struck and swerved viciously, Young may have been disappointed not to have kept the ball out bearing in mind it ended up fairly central.

Sandhurst then tried to sit on their lead and hit the Moles on the counter, and as the half wore on the away side finally got a foothold in the game and pulled one back when full backs Pitt and Tom Dilloway combined for a short free kick and Dilloway's pull back from the byline was poked in by Tawonezvi.

The Moles then peppered the Sandhurst goal and nearly equalized when Dilloway's close range effort from Pitt's cut back was well saved and Joe Grant - on as a substitute for Lampard - could not quite get on the end of the loose ball.

The equaliser came when a free kick from deep was volleyed by Webb against the post and hit a Sandhurst defender before trickling in.

Sensing the home side were tiring the Moles then went for the kill when perhaps consolidating their position would have been a better option. This gung-ho approach failed when Latimer caused confusion at the back in his non-interfering offside position and Faircloth burst through to lob the ball over Young.

Only a terrific double block from Young and Andy Graves prevented the Fizzers from extending their lead in the closing stages as the Moles exited a competition they would have had genuine hopes of making an impact on.

They have only a matter of days to lick their wounds and pick themselves up ahead of the visit of improving Windsor on Saturday.