Five-star Sports see off Diamonds in the FA Trophy

The first-round tie was played out in tough conditions at Hayden Road as the pitch deteriorated in the wet conditions.

But Sports made a flying start and found themselves 2-0 up early on with Maniche Sani scoring from close-range after a corner resulted in a bit of a scramble before, from another set-piece, Dion Sembie-Ferris found the net inside the six-yard box.

It needed a terrific challenge from Johnny Herd to deny Patrick Casey as Diamonds looked to respond but Sports had a 3-0 cushion at the break when a fine counter-attack ended with Sani driving the ball across goal with home defender Alex Collard putting through his own net.

Sani did get his second of the night soon after the restart as he skipped round Diamonds goalkeeper Richard Walton before finding the empty net.

The hosts replied through Collard who powered home a header from a corner and, after Lewis Moat had made a superb save to deny Casey, the game was wrapped up with 11 minutes to go when substitute Jordan Nicholson produced a good, low finish to complete the scoring.

And Sports boss Jimmy Dean said: “They gave us the first two goals, which actually changed the course of the match for them.

“I didn’t think there was a lot in it in the first half but we have gone in 3-0 up because they have given us two and we have scored a good third on the break.

“I know we got the two goals but it took us 20 to 25 minutes to understand the conditions.

“Diamonds were playing in the right areas and while I think we are one of the best footballing teams at our level, the players needed to understand that it wasn’t really about football this time.

“It was about hitting the corners and hitting the right areas and playing when you could.

“But I thought the players performed admirably. They really came on strong in the game.

“We had good preparation and no-one gave us that, we did that ourselves. We put the work in and I think it showed during the second half.”

The draws for the second and third rounds of the FA Trophy will be made at 1pm tomorrow (Wednesday) with Sports set to play their second-round tie next Tuesday night (December 15).