The teams re-convened at the same venue three days after their initial draw. The weather was much better with it being a mild (16C) evening.

Jersey made two changes to their starting line-up with Sammy Sutcliffe and Adam Trotter replacing Ben Le Rougetel and Miguel Carvalho. The latter was on the bench along with Fraser Barlow, making his first appearance of the season, and Joe Kilshaw. Joe was on the initial team sheet but a late swap was made with Nafkha. Sittingbourne also made two alterations, bringing in Jean-Baptiste Fischer for Bruno Tavares, who was on the bench, and Alfie Bloomfield for Mitchell May.

Sittingbourne kicked-off attacking the changing rooms end and it was their Correy Davidson with a free kick who brought an early save from Euan Van der Vliet before the same player volleyed narrowly over. Lorne Bickley broke away on a solo run but cutting back inside Joe Tyrie was able to rob him. Jersey survived a goalmouth scramble from a corner but the most notable aspect of the remainder of the half was the rising card count as the physical battle continued. This included the hosts verbal manager who was warned after 20 minutes before being cautioned in added time.

After the interval Bloomfield glanced a header narrowly wide before Jersey broke the deadlock. A Giles free kick was curled on to the bar, Luke Campbell got a head to the rebound and Lorne Bickley forced it over the line for his 61^st Bulls goal to take him ahead of Sol Solomon’s 60. Five minutes later a Bickley cross shot hit the base of the right post and rolled away.

Jersey’s hearts were in their mouths in the 58^th minute. Van der Vliet hit a clearance straight to Darnell Kithambo who advanced to the edge of the box to be met by the ‘keeper – already cautioned for time wasting. The attacker hurdled the stopper but a penalty was awarded before assistant referee Marian Stoichitoiu intervened to state it was simulation which was harsh as Kithambo had lost his footing on landing.

However, Bloomfield should have been added to the cautions for a late tackle that left Campbell limping for the rest of the match. Van der Vliet did well to push away a long range effort from Piokowski before the shooter clattered birthday boy Kilshaw and was lucky to only see “yellow”, instead of “red” as Kilshaw was helped off.

Bickley had a chance to wrap the match up but Bobby Mason saved well and as ten minutes added time began Watson sliced wide. He made amends though by finding Bickley down the middle. The striker moved right before hitting a low cross shot in to the bottom left corner. He pointedly ran towards the home bench to celebrate as they had been taunting him throughout.

The Sittingbourne manager was not finished though and after the final whistle “earnt” himself another “yellow” followed a “red” for his remarks to the referee. It was the hosts first loss in this round since 1949 – but they have not played in it since then.

Jersey Bulls 2 (Lorne Bickley 50 & 90+5), Sittingbourne 0 (at Sittingbourne)

Attendance – 153

Programme – 24pp, £2 (Saturday’s initial programme re-issued)

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, James Queree (c), Jay Giles, Sammy Sutcliffe, Luke Campbell (vc), Kamen Nafkha, Jonny Le Quesne, Adam Trotter, Lorne Bickley, Luke Watson, James Carr
Substitutes – 15. Fraser Barlow (for Queree 84), 16. Joe Kilshaw (for Nafkha 64), 17. Miguel Carvalho (for Kilshaw 80), only three substitutes

White with Light Blue & Pink diagonal stripes across the chest/Light Blue with White side panels/White: GK All Dark Green

Gary Freeman (Manager), Kevan Nelson (Assistant), Richard Hebert (GK Coach)

Sittingbourne – Bobby Mason, Donvieve Jones, Correy Davidson, Luke Woodward, Bagusan Graham (c), Joe Tyrie, Darnell Kithambo, Gabriel Piokowski, Alfie Bloomfield, Jake Goodman (wore 18), Bruno Tavares
Substitutes – 12. Casey Nolan-Samuels (for Tyrie 74), 13. (sub GK), Dion Curtis-Henry (not used), 14. Josh Osude (for Kithambo 62), 15, D’Sean Theobalds (not used), 16. Toch Singh (for Woodward 53), 17. Bruno Tavares (not used), 19. Ayman El Moghaebel (not used)

Red & Black Stripes/Black/Red & Black Hoops; GK Light Green/Lime/Lime

Ryan Maxwell (Manager), Che Stadhart (Assistant), Billy McMahon (Coach), Glenn Warwick (Coach), Hannah Pring (Physio.)

Formations

Jersey Bulls (4-3-3 R to L) 1; 2-4-5-3: 10-6-8; 7-9-11
Sittingbourne (5-2-3 R to L) 1; 2-6-18-5-3; 8-4: 7-9-11

Referee – Marcin Indyk (Coxheath, near Maidstone)

Assistants – Ryan Cantrill-Smith (Margate) on the dug outs side, Marian Stoichitoiu (Gravesend) on the covered side.

Cautions – Woodward (S) 19, Jones (S) 23, Trotter (JB) 28, Nafkha (JB) 32, Davidson (S) 41, Van der Vliet (JB) 45+2, Fischer (S) 45+4, Maxwell (S mgr) 45+5, Sutcliffe (JB) 45+6, Kithambo (S) 58, Piatkowski (S) 78, Maxwell (S mgr) 90+11 and “off”

Corners – Jersey Bulls (0) 0; Sittingbourne (4) 7

Player of the Match – Luke Campbell