REDHILL suffered an early exit from the FA Trophy after losing 2-1 to Brentwood Town in a preliminary round replay tonight (Tuesday).
The Lobsters welcomed their Essex opponents to Kiln Brow, following a feisty 1-1 draw at the Brentwood Arena on Saturday.
The replay looked set to be a game of two halves in tricky conditions, with a strong wind against Redhill in the first half, and Brentwood certainly enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges.
There were, however, very few chances early on, although Brentwood's forward duo of Sherwin Stanley and Yeshaya Lomotey looked threatening, with both spurning decent opportunities as the half wore on, with Scott Harris squandering Redhill's best chance at the other end.
Eventually, the visitors' forward threat did pay off on the stroke of half time, with Stanley firing into the bottom corner after the Lobsters failed to clear a long throw-in.
However, the goal was frustrating from Redhill's point of view, with central defender Jack Hope off the field receiving treatment at the time.
And the game threatened to boil over at half time, with players from both sides clashing as they left the field.
The two sides emerged late for the second half, but the game sprung into life with two goals in as many minutes soon after the restart.
First, Joe Bingham equalised for Redhill, heading in Chris O'Flaherty's deep free kick to level the scores on 51 minutes.
But Redhill were not level for long, as Stanley latched onto a long ball over the top of the hosts' defence two minutes later and coolly finished past Michael Hunter into the bottom corner to restore Brentwood's lead.
The Lobsters tried to respond and continued to try and play football on the deck, but the final pass eluded them on a number of occasions, with the hosts lacking a spark in and around the box.
Fiachra McArdle came closest with a superb 25-yard free kick that struck the upright, but Brentwood could and should have killed the game off on the break, with Sam Bantick guilty of missing two good opportunities.
Brentwood midfielder Andy Joslin was dismissed for a second bookable offence in stoppage time, but Redhill were unable to find an equaliser as the visitors held on to set up a first qualifying round tie with Southern Premier Division side Biggleswade Town on Saturday, November 1.
