Ex-Rams managers Gary Meakin and Byron Walton returned to Holloways Park with a Burnham squad packed with ex-SYCOB players and went away with a relatively comfortable victory to advance to the next round of the Red Insure Cup.
Possibly with one eye on the weekends FA Trophy tie Rams manager Andy Hurley brought in some new(ish) players like Jordan Ford, Jae Kim and Guram Guramishvilli and left regulars like Ollie Jones, Lee Togwell and Lee Thompson on the bench.
Burnham started the brightest on the rain drenched evening with Ferdinand Taryi, Tom O'Regan and Nicke Kabame all having reasonable chances in the first quarter of an hour. They did eventually make the breakthrough on 17 minutes when a good run and cross by Romaine Walker was met by Kabame who made no mistake from inside the six yard area. The Rams responded with an equalising goal on 22 minutes when a Spencer Eales corner caused chaos in the Burnham area and the ball was eventually prodded home by Guram Guramishvilli (who we really must think of a nick-name for!)
Alex Murray, playing well in a midfield role, put a header just over from another corner on 31 minutes before sixty seconds later Burnham retook the lead when a Tom O' Regan cross deceived everyone to nestle in the bottom corner of The Rams net. Despite a good save by Alex Lynch in The Blues goal from an Alex Murray effort on 36 minutes Burnham went in at half time comfortably in control.
The second period began with Aaron Berry shooting narrowly wide for The Rams before, on 53 minutes, Walker made sure of a Burnham victory when he ran unchallenged through The Rams half to fire past Sam Bunting. Bunting then pulled off some good saves from O' Regan and Jordan Ajanlekoko whilst SYCOB sub Lee Thompson brought out a good save from Lynch before Brad Hewitt made it 4-1 with a header from a corner on 73 minutes.
Sam Bunting made some more good saves in the closing minutes whilst Tom Willment had a header cleared off the line on 85 minutes and Ollie Jones and Aaron Berry combined well to bring a good save out of Lynch. Burnham sub Dean McDonnell was sent off at the death for two yellow cards but despite this they were never in danger and move on through to Round Two.
Five defeats on the spin in all competitions is not a good statistic in anyone's book. However The Rams are playing a lot better than the results would indicate - they just need a bit of luck to go their way and the wins will surely come.
Come On You Rams!
SYCOB team:
1. Sam Bunting
2. Jordan Ford
3. Jordan Chandler
4. Alex Murray
5. Tom Willment (Captain)
6. Guram Guramishvilli
7. Jed De Souza
8. Spencer Eales (Sub: Ollie Jones
9. Aaron Berry
10. Jae Kim (Sub: James Harding)
11. Ashley Kelynack (Sub: Lee Thompson)
Subs Not Used:
14. Lee Togwell
17. Omari Patrick
Attendance: 49