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Our under 18's made an early exit from this years FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night at the hands of a very good Colney Heath outfit buoyed by a fine strike pairing of Ricky Miller and Nathan Sandiford plus an inspired goalkeeping performance from Chris Eames.

The Missioners were behind within the first sixty seconds as a clumsy tackle inside the area brought a penalty award from referee Mr Jempeji which Miller easily converted sending Ciaran Houlihan the wrong way.

The visitors nearly doubled their advantage on five minutes but Millers effort was just wide before Hayes began to play their usual attacking football and began dominating proceedings only to be kept at bay some stirling goalkeeping from Eames.

Dan Mehmet was fractionally too high after good work by Michael Bryan and Matt Carroll before the latter was denied a shot on goal by a well timed last ditch tackle by Calum Chittenden. Bryan then fired at Eames from a tight angle before Mehmet put Ryan Jones through only for Eames to rush off his line and smother the ball at the strikers feet.

Ten minutes before the break we had an excellent chance to get back into the game when Mehmet danced through three tackles before being tripped just inside the area and Mr Jempeji once again pointed to the spot. Liam Hind stepped up to take the kick but his kick was saved fairly easily by Eames. Not downhearted by this, the young Missioners continued to press for the equaliser only to be hit with a sucker punch at the other end.

Jamie Lindsay was just off target with a header from a corner before a superb Bryan run to the byeline saw him cut the ball back to Mehmet five yards from goal only for Eames to pull off a superb one handed stop to keep out the Hayes man's volley. Within two minutes of this Colney were two ahead, Sandiford receiving the ball just outside the centre circle before outpacing the last defender and firing over Houlihan from an angle into the roof of the net.

The first chance of the second period again fell to the visitors, a long clearance by Eames being flicked to Miller by Sandiford with Houlihan getting behind the resultant shot to save. Play immediately switched to the other end where Eames managed to touch a Toby Little effort around the post. Minutes later we were three adrift as a suspiciously offside looking Sandiford advanced on goal before firing past the unprotected Houlihan.

Still the Hayes heads did not drop, Bryan saw an angled drive palmed away by Eames before the keeper had an invincible two minutes saving no fewer than four times as shots from Bryan and Little rained in on the Heath goal. Chances continued at both ends and with six minutes to go the fourth was netted by the visitors striker Miller who danced past Lindsay before rounding Houlihan and netting.

While Colney were good value for their win albeit the margin flattered, the young Hayes side should take heart from the fact that they never let their heads drop and were still battling to the final whistle.

On a final note, good luck to Colney Heath in the next rounds.

Report by Kevin Watts.