By Martin Voller

COURTNEY White scored the only goal at The Arena as Brentwood Town edged past 10-man London Colney to reach the next round of the FA Cup.

The match was remarkably similar to Brentwood’s previous FA Cup tie in which White scored in a 1-0 victory over Potters Bar Town who also had a man sent off.

Yesterday’s game was evenly contested until the hour mark when Colney defender Dan Power was sent off for a second bookable offence.

It took Brentwood just four minutes to exploit the man advantage as White scored to send the Blues through to the second qualifying round.

Joint managers Adam Flanagan and Danny Dafter made just three changes to the team that drew 3-3 with Cray Wanderers on Tuesday.

Jason Dobbs, Callum Webb and Alex Akrofi returned to the starting line-up in place of Shad Ngandu, Sherwin Stanley and Robbie Rees who all dropped to the bench.

Brentwood looked the brighter of the two teams in the early stages but they struggled to break down the Spartan League side’s well-organised defence.

The Blues’ best chance of the half came from a set-piece. Sam Bantick whipped a dangerous free-kick into the six-yard box but centre-half Ryan O’Rawe headed wide.

The hosts were forced to make a change just before the break as Dobbs was replaced by Rees after suffering a thigh strain.

After a rather forgettable first half the game kicked into life and Colney went close to taking the lead early on as some slack defending allowed Spencer Clarke-Mardel in but he missed the target.

Trouble flared on 54 minutes when Power made a late challenge on Louis Baucutt. The tackle provoked an angry reaction from the defender and his teammate Rees which saw the trio cautioned.

Only six minutes later Power was at it again, this time fouling Daryl Robson.

The full-back was forced to leave the field after being shown a second yellow and Brentwood made the most of the man advantage, taking the lead just two minutes later.

Bantick powered along the right wing and sent a low cross in to White who poked the ball beyond keeper Jack Smith.

Brentwood missed a host of opportunities to extend their lead which kept the away side in the game.

Manager Jim Nicholls made changes, including bringing on striker Jack Woods who had the away sides best chance but he blazed a shot well over after a quick counter-attack.

The Hertfordshire outfit continued to attack and looked likelier to score in the latter stages but Brentwood defended well and saw out five additional minutes to reach the next round and pocket a handsome sum of £3,000.

The result extended Brentwood’s unbeaten run to seven and joint-boss Flanagan was pleased with the way his side grounded out the win.

He added: “I think when you play teams from a lower league you have to have the right mindset, you know they’re going to give absolutely everything.

“It was a tough game and I feel they had some good players in their team and they really worked hard so I think that’s a good result for us today.”

Brentwood return to league action on Tuesday when they play their fourth home match on the bounce against managerless Maldon & Tiptree.

Brentwood: Bowles, Gardner (Mbulu 57’), Baucutt, Stokes (C), O’Rawe, Robson, Dobbs (Rees 41’), Webb (Dafter 89’), Akrofi, White, Bantick.

Unused subs: Ngandu, Stanley, Pellin, Lomotey.