Golds downed in quater-finals by Crawley

Down had won six of their previous eight matches and got the only goal on 65 minutes when a Tom Burton shot took a deflection and wrong-footed Golds keeper Jon Hendrick.

In a game of few opportunities, Littlehampton had a couple of half-chances in the first half but Jason Jarvis and Danny Hand were unable to force the ball home from goalmouth scrambles.

At 1-0 down, Littlehampton had two penalty appeals waved away, both when Hand went down, and Littlehampton boss Mark Bennett said: “One was 50-50, I’ve seen them given and I’ve seen them not.

“The other one, Danny had his standing leg taken away just as he was about to shoot and we felt it was a definite penalty.”

On the game, Bennett said: “We played okay but I’ve seen us play better.

“I felt that if we’d scored first that we’d have gone on to win the game. They turned up thinking that they were going to win, so if we’d got the first goal, it would have been difficult for them to raise their game being in that frame of mind.

“A lot of people thought that we were going to go there and get trounced, so I’m pleased that didn’t happen and the lads all played well.

“It’s a little bit frustrating that we didn’t play to our best but the lads all gave their all and I can ask for no more.”

Golds host lowly Little Common in the league on Saturday.