On a bitter evening in Pagham, Simon Wormull made six changes to the side who picked up a point at home to Folkestone Invicta on Saturday afternoon – including a debut for new signing, Alex Samizadeh.

The Hillians started the game brightly and took the lead in the 9th minute, as McCollin’s expertly timed dummy allowed the ball to find it’s way to Correia, who made no mistake from ten yards out. In the 17th minute, McCollin himself had a golden opportunity to double his side’s lead, after doing all the hard work to beat Wollers, the forward poked his effort wide of the target. Pagham were still proving a threat in the final third, and it took a strong block by Barker to prevent the home side from equalising in the 24th minute. New signing, Alex Samizadeh was showing signs of quality as he wriggled through numerous challenges, however on an extremely bobbly surface the final pass was proving difficult for every player. The remainder of the half petered out with the Hillians continuing to dominate.

HT 0-1.

Wormull’s men started the second half where they left the first, enjoying lengthy spells of possession. In the 52nd minute, Samizadeh had a good opportunity to open his Hillians account, but fell at the final hurdle as he poked his effort over the crossbar. Pagham attempted to stamp their authority on the tie, as they tried to ruffle some Hillians feathers with a series of hefty challenges. An off-the-ball incident saw Richmond require treatment, but the stand in skipper soldiered on – despite a whack to the ‘inner groin’. Wormull introduced Pat Harding and Farrell Ryder in search of some renewed attacking threat and was rewarded instantaneously, as Ryder skipped past Cox and delivered a low driven cross, which was turned into his own net by Wollers. Just seconds later the Hillians flocked forward once more. Harding’s strike was well saved by Binfield, but Samizadeh was on hand to tuck home for his first Hillians goal. Charlie Broad was introduced for his Hillians debut, with the youngster’s pace and presence causing continued problems for the Pagham back line. The Hillians saw out the game in a professional manner, to progress into the Quarter-Finals.

FT 0-3.

A dominant performance from the Hillians, which sees us set up a Quarter-Final date with Eastbourne Borough at the Green Elephants Stadium – date TBC.

The Hillians MOTM was awarded to Tom Cadman, who seemlessly slotted into centre back and alongside Richmond nulified any sniff of a Pagham attack.

Next up, it’s another Sussex derby!