Crawley Down Gatwick go through in FA Cup thriller

Hailsham Town 5 Crawley Down Gatwick 7

The scoreline might be unbelievable, but yes it did actually happen, and the old cliche of a game of two halves might well have been made for this match as both sides slugged this goalfest out under a cloudless sky.

With the game held up due to an official being late, the match was slightly late in starting, not that it affected either side.

Against the run of play the Stringers went in front on nine minutes when Anvil full-back Harry Lowe made a mess of a clearance that led to Charlie Levi setting up Sam Divall to open up the Stringers’ account.

Anvils’ Kieran Boylan went just wide with his first shot and on 16 minutes the Stringers were opened up again allowing Kieran Greig to slide the ball home.

Striker Boylan took a Greig pass to put the Anvils in front 2-1, then on 27 minutes it was Sam Cane having his shot cannon back off the bar.

Down went 3-2 up after 37 minutes when Boylan again got free to cut inside and notch his second.