The Bulls’ starting team showed four changes to their last outing. Euan Van der Vliet made his debut for the season in goal and Ruben Pestana replaced the suspended Kamen Nafkha in midfield. Alongside Pestana was Sean Lambert making his first start of the season, as Adam Trotter was injured, whilst Rai Dos Santos, who became the youngest ever Bulls player two weeks ago, now became the youngest starter, by swapping roles with Kieran Lester.

Lester was on the bench where he was joined by two prospective Bulls’ debutants from St. Clement F.C. They were Jay Dos Santos, no relation to Rai, born just nine days earlier than him and son of Nelio De Freitas a Jersey star of the 90s. The other, who could potentially take the youngest Bull player crown from Rai, was Jack Lumsden a towering presence at just 16 years 163 days and nephew of Ryan, a Muratti man at the turn of the century.

Billingshurst is a village six miles South-West of Horsham in Sussex. The football club moved to their present picturesque home outside the village in 2006 alongside the local cricket club when a swimming pool was built upon their old ground. From a spectator’s point of view the ground is two sided with the entrance side housing the obligatory 150 seat “Atcost” stand’ and the lower end being the “Nature Reserve End”, the Cricket Ground being behind the unoccupied upper end. Billinghurst stood 5th in the Southern Combination League Division 1, what was previously the Sussex County League before F.A. Pyramid re-naming took place. In the previous round they had beaten F.C. Elmstead 7-6 on “penalties” after a 2-2 draw when the Bulls received a bye.

The morning sunshine gave way to cloudier conditions as Jersey kicked off attacking the Cricket Field end. Billingshurst were combative in midfield and with just one player up front it looked as if they hoped to “nick” a goal and then defend it, or even win another round on “penalties”. Early on a couple of long balls over the top of the Bulls back four led to tussles with defenders and both led to “bookings” for the Bulls men as they repulsed their challengers.

Billingshurst defended sternly but Solomon turned well in the box midway through the half to create the only real chance before the interval. The ‘keeper however managed to parry his shot and there was no one present to tuck away the loose ball. Barlow challenged for another ball Correia fumbled just before half time but it was deemed illegal and he was added to the yellow card count which left some wondering if all 22 players would see out the match.

The Sussex side closed out the half when Fernandes saw Van der Vliet off his line and tried a speculative pot shot from 35 yards but the ‘keeper gathered it easily.

Bulls broke the deadlock somewhat fortuitously early in the second half when a half- cleared Solomon corner bounced up and hit Evans on the forearm right in front of the

referee. Campbell stepped up and rifled the ball down the middle as Correia dived to his left. A fair reflection of the play so far but not a decision you would like to have given against your team.

Less than ten minutes later Campbell had the chance to put the tie to bed when in the 57th minute a mazy Solomon run across the penalty area led to a much clearer award when he was tripped whilst in full flow.

The resultant kick rattled the inside of the right post high up and rebounded to Campbell who tucked it away. It did not count however as it was an example of one of the earliest test questions a trainee referee receives – it had not touched another player in between Campbell’s two touches.

On the hour Pestana played in Rai Dos Santos with a lovely through ball but it was just a little heavy leaving Rai with a tight angle and his shot only made the side netting.

Midway through the half a Billingshurst “dive” was commented on in no uncertain terms by a Bulls’ midfielder which resulted in a 22 man “handbagging” session and a Billingshurst card for the player who inflamed the already volatile situation.

With a quarter of an hour to go Lumsden came on to depose Rai Dos Santos of a record he had only held for a fortnight. Lester came on at the same time and within two minutes another Solomon run to the left byline put the ball across the face of the goal and Illingworth slid in to force it home at the far post. That was Illingworth’s last meaningful action as Jay Dos Santos was brought on for his debut.

As the two new faces settled in to the team Billingshurst gained their first corner of the match with only a few minutes remaining. There was still time for more Bulls’ chances - Pestana shot just wide and Jay Dos Santos blazed over after getting himself in to a good position.

Yet another Solomon breakaway in the dying seconds saw his shot fumbled by the ‘keeper on to the shin of the inrushing Lester to put a finishing gloss on the scoreline.

The 3-0 win puts Bulls in to the last 226 of the competition. These are the 165 winners of the weekend’s ties plus 61 of the last 64 last season, who are exempted to the later rounds this season.

Billingshurst (0) 0; Jersey Bulls (0) 3 (Luke Campbell penalty 49, Arthur Illingworth 78, Kieran Lester 90+3)

Attendance – 115

Programme – 18 pages online only (A5, full colour), a colour mini version of just pages 7 & 8 (the team line ups) on an A4 sheet was available on the gate

Billingshurst – Luis Correia, Dan Evans, James Bessant, Robbie Tambling, Eddie French (c), Dave Gellatly, Jahobi Maher, Nick Tilley, Jermaine Beer, Ricardo Fernandes, Albi Baker Substitutes – Brad O’Connor (for Tilley 79), Sam Bull (not used), Owen Higgins (for Maher 76), Daryl Cornelius (not used), Casey Tucker (for Evans 49), Ben Hands (not used) (only six substitutes; three to be used from the maximum seven nominated is permitted in the F.A. Vase)

Lee Spickett (Manager), Dave Gellatly Sr. (Assistant), Jack Stevens (Senior Coach), Charlie Holmes (Junior Coach), Princess Goodwin (Physio.)

Red & Black Striped Shirts with Black Shorts & Socks; GK All Green

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, Jay Giles, James Queree (c), Luke Campbell, Sean Lambert, Fraser Barlow, Ruben Pestana, Arthur Illingworth, Sol Solomon, Rai Dos Santos Substitutes – Kieran Lester (for Barlow 76), Jay Dos Santos (for Illingworth 81), Jack Lumsden (for Le Quesne also 76), Kevan Nelson (not used) (only four substitutes)

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant)

A first outing for the Blue/Blue/White strip; GK All Yellow

Referee – Radoslav Iliev (Portsmouth, Hampshire) A Bulgarian who moved to the U.K. in 2003 and qualified as a referee ten years later. Initially at Wimbledon but based in Portsmouth for the past three seasons. Now officiating in the Wessex League and in his second year controlling F.A. Vase matches.

Assistants – David Barnard (Horsham, Sussex) In his 20th season as a referee whose career highlight was refereeing the Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup Final and Adrian Hudson (Billingshurst, Sussex) A very local replacement this veteran of 54 seasons was the 4th official when Brentford beat Manchester City in the F.A. Cup 4th Round in 1988-89 on their way to the Quarter-Finals that season.

Cautions – Sean Lambert (Jersey Bulls) 6, Jahobi Maher (Billingshurst) 14, Luke Campbell (Jersey Bulls) 27, Ricardo Fernandes (Billingshurst) 33, Fraser Barlow (Jersey Bulls) 41, David Gellatly (Billingshurst) 69, Jonny Le Quesne (Jersey Bulls 71). A couple of other more serious Billingshurst “crimes” went unpunished.

Corners – Billingshurst (0) 2; Jersey Bulls (5) 14

Man of the Match Award (Online Voting) – Sol Solomon 15, Rai Dos Santos 14, Sean Lambert 9, Arthur Illingworth 6