South Eastern Conference Plate: UEL III 3 University of Westminster II 2

The University of East London third team progressed to the last 32 of the Plate with a dramatic victory over their University of Westminster rivals at Beckton District Park.

Yadgar Mahmoud gave UEL the lead in the first half when his cross ended up in the net.

Westminster equalised with a long range shot, but John Silva restored UEL’s lead just after and they went 3-1 up with a deserved goal from Jamie Hawthorne.

But the visitors piled on the pressure late on with a deflected goal which had UEL’s back to the wall for the final minutes of the game.

Due to poor weather conditions chances were few and far between in the first half.

Olly Soulsby mustered a chance on the edge of the box, but his shot was blocked by the feet of the keeper.

UEL had their best chance of the half on 18 minutes as Soulsby received the ball from a throw-in and, with his back to goal, turned and hit a fierce volley just over the bar.

The home side broke the deadlock just before the break as Mahmoud’s cross into the box swerved goalwards and the Westminster keeper could not keep it out.

The second half was full of chances and UEL almost increased their lead eight minutes in as Mahmoud’s low cross was met by Hawthorne, but his effort was blocked by Westminster’s keeper.

Silva nearly scored a great goal as he lifted the ball over the keeper, but his shot fell just over the bar.

And the visitors equalised just after the hour as their central midfielder burst past his man and struck a shot from 20 yards that swerved away from Dan Hopkin and into the bottom corner.

UEL regained their lead two minutes later as the ball was clipped to the far post where the unmarked Silva cut back across goal to score.

The hosts controlled the next 15 minutes of play and extended their lead after a great driving run from Shaun Edwards saw the ball slotted into the path of Hawthorne to poke it past the keeper.

The away side did claim a consolation goal three minutes from time as a routine shot took a wicked deflection and ended up in the top corner.

But UEL saw out the tense minutes of injury time to progress to the next round, where they face either Queen Mary IV or London Met in two weeks.

UEL: Dan Hokin, John Daly, Luqman Adesina, Jamie Fray (Micheal Osiguwa 61), Liam Brady, Kieran Baldwin, Shaun Edwards, John Silva, Yadgar Mahmoud, Olly Soulsby, Jamie Hawthorne. Unused subs: Kane Taylor, Jamie Smith.