Maldon Town stormed into the next round of the FA Vase in convincing fashion.

The story of the match was written in the space of an eventful 15 minutes.

Maldon took the lead, Morpeth had a player sent off and from the resulting free-kick conceded a second.

After a hurried opening, a mistake by the Morpeth defence let Robbie Reinelt in to snatch the first goal.

With tempers high among the visitors, a flashpoint was inevitable.

It came when Morpeth's Sean Nesbitt was sent off for a foul on Nicky Smith.

Things got worse when, from the resulting free-kick, Craig Huttley was able to strike the ball unhampered into the bottom far corner to double the lead.

After the restart Morpeth set their stall out to attack but the home side soaked up the pressure and, using the extra man, stretched Morpeth on the counter attack.

On 85 minutes Thompson crossed to the centre of the box for Scott Witney to despatch with ease.

Maldon goalkeeper Neil Stanbridge was only summoned to duty once when Mark Jewitt's snap-shot from just inside the area required some quick attention as the game faded to a close.

Published Monday, January 20, 2003

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