- Haywards Heath Town 0, Albion 6
Lorent Tolaj bagged four goals as Albion cruised to victory over Haywards Heath Town in the second round of the Senior Cup.
Tom Gilbert gave Albion an early scare when he nodded against the crossbar in the first minute, before Jensen Dos Santos was denied superbly by Adam Desbois when through on goal.
Albion bossed possession as you might expect, with Cam Peupion having the visitors’ first chance of the game, but blazed over from just inside the Heath box.
The hosts continued to be dangerous when they got forward and Sinn Christie’s back-stick effort hit the side-netting when you half expected him to score.
Dos Santos was proving to be a good outlet for Heath and when Albion conceded possession deep inside their own half, the forward’s toe-poked effort from 16-yards was only kept out by the feet of Desbois who had committed to diving to his right.
Albion found their stride and after Cam Peupion was told to get up by the referee when he appeared to be tripped when through on goal, Tolaj showed a cool-head to calmly lift over the onrushing Billy Collings to put his team in the lead in the 37th minute.
Andrew Crofts’ men all but put the game to bed within the opening seven minutes of the second half.
Tolaj converted from two-yards out, sliding home Peupion’s low ball, before Ifill curled emphatically past Collings to put Albion in the driving seat.
The Swiss striker had his hat-trick and Albion’s fourth on the hour mark. His first effort from just inside the box was smartly kept out by Collings, but the ball fell straight to the feet of Tolaj who rolled it into the net.
He added Albion’s fifth with ten minutes to play with a drive from a tight angle, before Cam Peupion got his name on the scoresheet from the penalty spot, firing into the bottom right corner.
Albion: Desbois, Offiah, Packham (Kavanagh), Hinchy (Qureshi), Jackson, Tsoungui, Wilson (Gee), Chouchane, Tolaj, Peupion, Ifill.
Subs: Talley, Qureshi, Emmerson, Kavanagh, Gee.
Attendance: 603