FA VASE FIFTH ROUND Hillingdon Borough 4 Mildenhall Town 0 THE FA Vase trophy was on full display in the clubhouse at the Middlesex Stadium on Saturday – but Mildenhall will not be getting any closer to it this season. Two goals in each half put paid to a

FA VASE FIFTH ROUND

Hillingdon Borough 4

Mildenhall Town 0

THE FA Vase trophy was on full display in the clubhouse at the Middlesex Stadium on Saturday - but Mildenhall will not be getting any closer to it this season.

Two goals in each half put paid to any ambitions which Mildenhall may have had of lifting the trophy for real at St Andrew's in May, as manager Trevor Munns saw his dreams of further progress dashed in front of 223 passionate fans.

The match appeared to hinge on the award of a contentious penalty for Hillingdon's second goal in the 38th minute.

'Hall captain Andy Eady looked to have outmuscled his opponent, but the referee blew for a spot-kick.

Once it had been converted, the home team never looked like surrendering their advantage.

"We've got complaints about the penalty they got and complaints about the one we didn't get," said Munns afterwards, referring to an incident just before half-time when 'Hall had strong appeals for handball turned down.

"It's best that you say what you want about the officials," he added. We started well, I knew we would have to play through them and we did that and created a couple of chances.

"But the most disappointing thing is that we let the first goal affect us too much. I felt the second goal was an extremely harsh decision, but if we'd scored earlier, maybe we would have got the penalty and not them."

What turned out to be 'Hall's best chance of the match fell to midfielder Louie Farrington after nine minutes, but he could only direct his volley from close range straight at the keeper.

Shortly after, Neal Docking just failed to connect with a left-wing cross, but that was about as good as it got for 'Hall.

Visiting keeper Ben Nower flapped at a cross which allowed Hillingdon to score their first on 27 minutes, then came the penalty.

The third came on 68 minutes and Hillingdon completed the scoring five minutes from time.

"After beating Didcot in the third round, the rest seemed to be a bit of an anticlimax," said Munns. "I know that sounds a bit rude to the other teams we played, but we knocked the holders out and we were in all the papers.

"It was a big day for the club but we just couldn't deliver.