SPENNYMOOR Town manager Jason Ainsley admitted that the holders went out of the FA Carlsberg Vase “with a whimper” as Newcastle Benfield deserved to knock them out with a shock 2-1 victory at the Brewery Field on Saturday.

Moors were beaten by two goals from Benfield’s 36-yearold prolific striker Paul Brayson, who also hit the woodwork twice as the visitors looked sharper than the Vase favourites in the all- Northern League tie.

“I thought that Benfield were the better side,” admitted Ainsley.

“Too many of our big name players just weren’t good enough. I really thought that we would have played better, considering that we were in the fifth round of a national competition, and that we won it last year.

“It’s tough to say this, but Benfield wanted to win more than us. It was a like a nothing game to some of our players.

“I’m bitterly disappointed that we’ve gone out, because it was a good opportunity to get into the quarter-finals. We went out with a whimper, and that’s hard to take.”

There hadn’t been any shots on target until Brayson produced a beauty of a free kick on 23 minutes, when he curled a 30-yarder over the defensive wall and into the top corner of the net with keeper Peter Jeffries helpless.

But a few minutes later Moors were level when Benfield keeper Andy Grainger tried to clear from a back pass, but Liam Henderson charged him down and the ball rebounded off the striker’s shins into the net.

Benfield regained the lead five minutes after half-time when Moors defender Dan Groves made a hash of a headed back pass, allowing Brayson to sneak in and score.

Brayson struck the post twice, while at the other end Moors midfielder Keith Graydon hit the crossbar and also forced Grainger into a fingertip save.

Overall Benfield posed a more dangerous threat than Moors.

Benfield manager Steve Bowey, who won the midfield battle almost single-handedly, said: “Nobody expected us to get a result, but if you don’t believe in yourself, then there’s no point in turning up.

“When you have a player like Paul Brayson up front, he’s always likely to get a goal or two. He tore their two centre halves apart, and was always giving them problems.

“We watched Spennymoor three times in recent weeks and came up with a game plan, which worked perfectly.

The players were superb, there’s a great spirit at the club.”

Benfield are now away to Leicester club St Andrews in the quarter-final on March 8.

There are two other ENL clubs through, and Dunston UTS and West Auckland will face each other on March 8 in a repeat of the 2012 final, which Dunston won.

West Auckland beat Hallen from the Western League 2-0 in a game spoilt by the wind at the Seagrave Stadium.

Jordan Nixon made two good saves for West early on, but the home side managed to start creating chances themselves, with John Campbell and Robbie Briggs both unlucky.

West managed to break the deadlock just before half-time, when the Hallen keeper missed a Briggs cross, allowing Mattie Moffat a chance he couldn’t miss.

West had a grip on the game on 64 minutes when Hallen had Alan Dunt dismissed for deliberate handball on the line, and John Campbell scored from the spot.

West manager Peter Dixon said: “Our performance was below par, but at least we’re through to the next round. It could have gone either way in the conditions.

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Spennymoor Town’s Anthony Peacock looks for an opening in the Benfield defence

“I don’t mind playing Dunston, it’s the kind of situation that we will relish.”

Dunston UTS turned on a second half super show to beat Brightlingsea Regent 5-0 at the UTS stadium.

Manager Billy Irwin said; “We were average in the first half, but we were top drawer in the second half.

“For a club like us to be in the quarter-final for the third time in five years is fantastic.”

It was fairly even until the 26th minute when Andy Bulford, who scored twice in the final two years ago, got away and fired right footed across the Brightlingsea keeper into the net, and in the second half Dunston turned on the style.

Gary Shaw crossed from the left for Bulford to head the second on 48 minutes, then after the keeper could only weakly punch away a free kick, Micky Dixon squared the ball for Bulford to drive home.

It was 4-0 when Lee McAndrew side-stepped a defender and drove the ball in from a tight angle.

Jonny Wightman scored the fifth when he broke clear and squeezed the ball past the keeper.

Morpeth had a day they would want to forget, losing 6- 1 at Eastbourne United after having Jordan Fry controversially sent off in just the second minute following a melee.

Stephen Forster scored for them when Eastbourne were 4-0 up, but then they had Shaun Bell and Stephen Anderson dismissed for their second yellow cards late in the game.

Manager Nicky Gray said: “We couldn’t believe that our player was sent off, because one of their players went straight through one of ours.

There were some poor decisions that went against us, and we lost concentration.”