Lingfield 3-5 Corinthian - What did they give me? Heart, passion, desire but our main focus is Lordswood in the FA Vase on Saturday, it's not the Herne Bay game, says Corinthian boss Mason East

Lingfield 3 – 5 Corinthian
Location	15 Church Road, Whyteleafe, Surrey CR3 0AR
Kickoff	12/08/2026 20:00

LINGFIELD  3-5  CORINTHIAN
The Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
Wednesday 12 August 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Church Road

CORINTHIAN manager Mason East praised his players’ heart, passion and desire after fighting back from two-goals down to win a breathless FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay against Lingfield.

The two sides played out a 1-1 draw at Gay Dawn Farm in Fawkham on Saturday and Corinthian’s reward is a trip to Herne Bay in the Preliminary Round on Saturday 22 August.

Ben Smith’s side thrashed Harrow-based side Broadfields United 6-1 24 hours earlier but are being investigated by The Football Association after making six substitutions during their convincing victory at Tithe Farm.

Lingfield dominated most of the first half and deserved their two-goal advantage inside the opening 26 minutes through wingers Kwesi Ntim and Iker Noguera Leon before the small crowd of 95 in Whyteleafe saw Corinthian claw themselves back level going into the interval through a header from right-back Oliver Fryer and attacking midfielder Oscar Housego.

Corinthian played with a high-intensity for the opening 22 minutes of the second half and Jimmy Williams’ own-goal, a goal-line finish from central midfielder Oluwaseyi Adegbehingbe and Housego’s well-taken penalty put the Kent side firmly in control.

With Lingfield manager Charlie McCarthy on holiday, Ben Caldecourt and Max Cousins (assistant managers) threw on three players and sub striker Gabriel Odunaike rolled home the game’s eighth goal of the game to make it a nervy final 15 minutes at Church Road.

Lingfield went into this game sitting in the bottom three of the Southern Combination League Premier Division table, having lost 5-1 to Hassocks and then picked up a point in a 2-2 draw at Forest Row.

Corinthian were in ninth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table following their opening day 2-2 draw at Fisher.

“I wasn’t overly impressed with the first half, if I’m honest,” admitted East, who has never taken a charge of a FA Cup tie before this past week.

“We didn’t feel like we worked together. We didn’t feel like we followed the game plan really well.

“We’ve told them at half-time, that’s the whole idea of winning this game that we were able to follow our game plan and stuck together.

“We knew we could’ve won this game. We know through preparation as well and even from the game on Saturday, we knew we had in our locker, we just had to get it out there and that’s what we did in the second half.

“We scored three goals in quick time. I can’t fault the boys and their effort. I said to the guys’ afterwards ‘that’s the feeling that we want to keep feeling.’ That’s a feeling we take into every game. We take it into the rest of this Cup. We take it into every cup that we go to and we stick together.  We’re a family, we’re a brotherhood here. We make sure that we work hard for each other. We have no individuals so yes, it’s a great game, a great feeling and we keep that going into the next round against Herne Bay.”

A sign of things to come arrived after only 41 seconds when Corinthian striker Logan Wallace prodded the ball to threatening left-winger Asanti Amoah, who charged forward, cut inside and drilled a low deflected drive, which was comfortably gathered by Lingfield goalkeeper Sang Hyun Back at his near post.

Lingfield started to gain control of the game with Leon linking up well with strikers Rafael Barbosa and Ashley Mutungerwa, as Corinthian were losing the midfield battle.

Adegbehingbe and right-winger Samuel Sarpong put in poor performances and Sarpong gave the ball away to Mutungerwa in the right-back position and the Lingfield striker dragged his right-footed drive across keeper Hugo Webb and past the far post from 20-yards.

Lingfield deserved their lead when it arrived with 11 minutes and 51 seconds on the clock.

Lingfield keeper Back charged out into the centre-circle to close the door on Wallace and drilled a 20-yard pass straight down the middle of the pitch to holding midfielder Alex Kpakpe, who drove forward with the ball.  He skipped past Corinthian left-back Luke Mandry at ease before whipping in a low cross towards the unmarked Ntim who drilled his right-footed shot past Webb into the centre of goal.

“I mean, you have to give credit to Lingfield, both times they came at us. I felt they were a lot stronger tonight and I’ll always give credit to where it’s due for an opposition and I have full respect for them, they gave it to us,” said East.

“They gave it to us in the first 45 minutes. They had a lot of energy and we knew if we wanted to win this game, we needed to compete with that energy and we needed to make sure that we had that energy about us and we brought that.

“I can’t fault that energy at all, so yes, a big difference from them and they played so much better.

“Yes, it was a good goal, that’s it, we move on. A goal’s a goal at the end of the day. I just want to make sure that I focus on the positives from us and how we’re doing really well. That’s all I really care about at the end of the day!

“It’s not how you start a game, it’s about how you finish a game at the end of the day and we made sure that we gave 110 per cent!”

Lingfield bossed the game and Adegbehinghe gave the ball away to a pressing Mutungerwa in the defensive third and Mutungerwa drilled his right-footed shot which was comfortably saved by Webb at the half-way point of the half.

Lingfield deserved their two-goal lead when it arrived with 25 minutes and 6 seconds on the clock.

A high Lingfield left-back Williams was fouled by Sarpong, whose poor performance was ‘winding up’ East on the touchline.

Leon’s free-kick was driven into the wall and Kpakpe played the ball back to Williams, who recycled the ball back into the penalty area and the ball was headed away at the near post by Corinthian centre-back Caleb Afoke and Leon clipped a first-time left-footed volley into the top left-hand corner from 15-yards.

When quizzed that Lingfield deserved their two-goal lead at the time, East admitted: “Absolutely. I give credit where it’s due. They worked really hard in the first 25 minutes and as I said we weren’t the greatest and we kind of let them but we’re not the kind of team to sit back and allow teams to do that. I’ve drilled that in from the get-go.

“We have standards, we have a structure and we make sure of that and we made sure that we came away with a win.”

Corinthian pulled a vital goal back just 145 seconds later, with 27:31 on the clock.

Corinthian centre-half Jamie Billings launched a long ball out of defence and Lingfield’s right-sided centre-half Nicolas Bostan was penalised by the referee for pulling back Wallace.

Housego whipped in a quality free-kick delivery from just outside the left-corner towards the back post where goalkeeper Back rose and flicked the ball away. The ball bounced off the head of a rising Bostan and Corinthian received a lucky break when the rising Fryer knocked the ball over the line with his head from close to the goal-line.

“I mean, it doesn’t really matter how a goal goes in, a goal’s a goal at the end of the day,” admitted East.

“We take the opportunity, we take that advantage and we definitely did. We grabbed it with both sets of horns and just went for it!”

Lingfield were then profligate in front of goal as they missed some glorious chances to kill Corinthian off.

The impressive Leon floated a quality free-kick from the left towards the back post where centre-half Luke Richardson rose and steered his free-header across Webb and arrowed narrowly past the far post (33:21).

Mutungerwa and Barbosa linked up inside the Corinthian penalty area and the pair seemingly wanted to walk the ball in and Corinthian got away with it when Barbosa placed his right-footed shot past the foot of the left-hand post from six-yards.

Leon skipped past Mandry, Amoah and Adegbehingbe in Corinthian’s non-existent midfield before drilling a sublime diagonal switch over to Nitim, who charged down the line before putting it on a plate for Leon, who swept his first-time left-footed shot looping over the crossbar when well-placed (41:51).

“We’re a team that collectively work together, we’re not individuals here at the end of the day and we got that in from the get-go, so like I said, give praise and where it is due, they did give it to us,” added East.

However, Corinthian showed great character and went close (43:20) when Housego delivered a quality free-kick with his right-foot towards the near post where 35-year-old one-club man Billings rose and planted his free-header just past the near post.

“I mean, those types of chances don’t always come all the time and it’s important to capitalise on them,” said East.

“Another day, another game, Jamie’s going to do that. We trust that and we trust that he is good in the air and he’ll always score set-pieces, even outside of set-pieces.

“We need that leadership on that pitch and he brings that, so yes, it could’ve been a goal. It would’ve been nice to have been a goal but it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. We’ll always get chances and next time he’ll take it.”

Corinthian grabbed an equaliser with 44 minutes and 12 seconds on the clock, however.

Battered central midfielder Alfie Cragg emerged from the gloom and lofted the ball up from the middle of the park into the edge of the Lingfield penalty area and poor defending from Bostan allowed Housego to pounce on the loose ball inside the penalty area and as keeper Back rushed off his line the talented number 10 rolled his right-footed shot into the empty goal.

“I mean, Alfie has worked incredibly hard over the last couple of weeks to secure his shirt. It doesn’t really matter how he delivers it but he’s worked incredibly hard to ensure that he is playing on a regular basis.

“Oscar getting another one. If you give him an opportunity, he will take it, so these type of players are the players we want to have about and keep about because they’ve got something about them and that’s why they’ve started today and that’s why they’ve done incredibly well.”

There was still time for Mutungerwa to drill a long ball straight down the heart of the pitch towards a couple of chasing players.  Barbosa was favourite but Corinthian centre-half Afoke jumped up to knock his header behind for a stoppage time corner.

East delivered the half-time team talk of the season so far.

“I said to them we need to work as a brotherhood.  We need to work together and I always make sure that the boys agree to that every time. Every time they say ‘yes’ and agree to it, that they have to put it out there.

“I’m a man with standards at the end of the day and they have to make sure they’re up to those standards all the time and I think they are.

“We didn’t b****ck them. We didn’t go in aggressive with them. We didn’t do anything what would jeopardise anything. We know how to manage the players in there at half-time and we knew that telling them straight but also telling them there’s a clear chance here. We’re two-two, we’ll start again but we just make sure that we didn’t start in the same way as the first half.”

Whatever East said to his players’ at the interval had the desired effect as Corinthian came out with all guns blazing for the first 22 minutes and played with a high-intensity that Lingfield simply couldn’t live with.

East hooked the poor Sarpong for Harrison Fryer and he made an instant impact down the right wing, giving Williams a torrid time before the Lingfield left-back was hooked in the 72^nd minute.

“We’re a high-intensity team anyway. We’re a team that work incredibly hard. Like I said to the boys, we want to be a team that’s just non-stop. Even players who are coming off the bench as well. I don’t call them subs, we call them ‘game changers’ at the end of the day and the subs that came on they continuously worked hard as well so you can’t fault any of those boys.

“We definitely get a kick out of working hard and building and also defeating teams whilst we’re that most hard working team.”

When asked about hooking Sarpong – who didn’t perform at the required level  – East replied: “We decided to get some fresh legs on the pitch. We just wanted to make sure that we had the right players on the pitch. I can’t fault Sam for his performance. What he’s done for the club, every singing that we’ve made we feel he’s been the right signing but it was simply a tactical change, that was it.”

Corinthian set the tone by creating their first chance after only 27 seconds.

Adegbehingbe (who performed miles better after the interval) swept the ball out to Harrison Fryer, who cut inside Williams before fizzing a low cross into the centre of the penalty area where Housego hit a first-time right-footed drive, which was comfortably saved by Back.

Back then made a comfortable save as Adegbehingbe drove a low right-footed drive from 25-yards (1:43), before an even better chance came Corinthian’s way with four and a half minutes on the clock.

Housego charged past a poor Williams to hang over a great deep cross from the right by-line towards the unmarked Wallace, who steered his header towards the near-post, which was palmed away by Back, high to his right.

“We said to them at half-time, we didn’t have as much intensity as what we wanted in the first half but we got that out of them,” said East, whose excellent man-management inside the visitors’ dressing room got them over the line.

“We said to them ‘we are a high intensity-team’. We’re a team that works incredibly hard. We’ve got a team of 11 players; more fit players and we made sure of that in pre-season, they were fit. We don’t want teams that are not going to be fit. We’re a team that work incredibly hard and we’ll continue that throughout the rest of the season.”

Ntim started to argue with Williams after he was cautioned for a foul on the halfway line on Harrison Fryer, as Corinthian’s brilliant start to the second half clearly rattled Lingfield.

Ntim then regained his composure and switched the ball over to Leon, whose left-footed rasping drive from 30-yards was comfortably plucked out of the air by Webb, stepping to his right and beside his post.

Dominant Corinthian deserved their lead when it arrived with 11 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.

Mandry switched a free-kick from the left over to the right and the impressive Harrison Fryer shifted the ball past Williams, whipping in a cross from within the right-channel, the ball clipping off the pressing left-back, sailing and then looping over Back’s right-shoulder and dropping into the top far corner for an own-goal.

“We’re taking the goal for that, we’re not taking any own goals, we’re taking the goal for that,” insisted East.

“Luke never started on Saturday, came on after about 30-35 minutes but he wanted a shirt. He got a shirt at the end of the day and Harrison as well. We didn’t start Harrison today. We wanted to make a couple of changes just to freshen it up a little bit.

“I said to Harrison at half-time, ‘let’s make sure that you win your shirt back’ and he definitely has done.

“They’re two players that we can heavily rely on to do well every game and we trust that and that’s why they’re a part of this club.”

There was a hint of controversy for Corinthian’s fourth goal, when it arrived with 15 minutes and 13 seconds on the clock, following their fourth of six corners.

Housego delivered a deep corner from the right towards the back post where the unmarked Amoah drilled his shot through a crowd of players and the ball bounced off Adegbehinge on the line and referee Luke Piner consulted with assistant James Beal before awarding the goal.

“We signed Shay a couple of weeks ago and it was a signing that we knew we wanted to get in. We knew we wanted to bring back to the club. We knew what he offered. We knew what he was about and he’s a part of the family here, so he’s done extremely well since coming in.

“Asante, a new signing this year as well, he’s done extremely well. So, we’re very impressed with the squad that we have and what they can deliver and what they can do.”

When asked to rate Adehbehinge’s performance – after losing the midfield battle during the first half – East refused to throw his lanky number four under the bus.

“Do you know what, I’m not going to rate individuals out of 10. I don’t do that. I rate the team out of 10 and I think we were definitely up there in the higher marks as close to the 8s, nines and tens as much as possible. I wouldn’t go any lower than that.

“I don’t like to rate individuals because at the end of the day we are a team and were a brotherhood and were a family and we do everything together. We don’t do anything individually.”

Brilliant Corinthian killed the game off by scoring their fifth goal of the night with 18 minutes and 14 seconds on the clock.

The outstanding Harrison Fryer charged down the line, Wallace drilled in a cross from within the right-channel and Amoah’s drilled shot struck the hand of Lingfield right-back Jack McDonnell, who then dropped to his knees in despair.

Housego rifled his right-footed penalty into the roof of the net (goalkeeper Back dived to his right) to score his second goal of the season/night.

East said: “It was a great penalty as well but those type of chances come from behind and moving it up the pitch as quick as possible and we needed to make sure that we capitalised on that opportunity and there was no one better in my opinion than Oscar to do it – it’s a great goal!”

Adegbehingbe and Housego linked up before Amoah stung Back’s fingers with a left-footed rasping drive before Corinthian’s high-intensity naturally dropped off at the half-way point.

Lingfield hooking Williams helped their cause and they brought on three subs in the final 18 minutes, bringing on left-back Stephen Hodge, which helped stop the flow of Corinthian attacks, central midfielder William English and striker Odunaike.

Lingfield scored their third goal of the night with 29 minutes and 21 seconds on the clock.

Odunaike latched onto substitute Reon Donker’s through ball and the number nine held his composure to slot a clinical right-footed shot across Webb and tricking into the bottom far corner in a one-on-one to open his account for the new season.

“I mean it was always going to be very tough to be able to keep to that high-intensity for a long period of time and I did feel we did keep that,” explained East.

“When they decided to bring three players on, they’re three new fresh legs, so we knew we had to put on some fresh legs as well just to keep the tempo as high as possible.

“To bring Alfawaz Dada (a winger) onto the pitch with his pace we knew by bringing him on he’ll be able to take players on so the intensity was always going to drop a little bit so we needed to bring that back up again.”

Lingfield dominated for the rest of the game and made it a nervy ending.

Corinthian hit Lingfield on the counter-attack (34:49) when Harrison Fryer released Wallace in behind and his right-footed shot flashed just past the foot of the near-post, as the number nine still waits for his first goal of his career and doesn’t appear to have the tools to be a 20-goal a season number nine.

“He’ll get the goal, he’ll get that goal. He’ll continue to work at it and he’ll get there.

“Logan has been absolutely unbelievable for us, a fantastic signing that’s we’ve brought in. He’s got energy. I call him our ‘little Jack Russell’ and that’s what we want from him. He gives 100 per cent every game and that’s what we want.

“A signing which we’re incredibly proud to have and we were so happy to get that over the line because we knew how hard he was going to work and we knew what he was like and he matches exactly what we want in a striker.”

English drilled a right-footed drive, which flew straight down Webb’s throat from 30-yards as the game opened up late on but Corinthian’s storming second half ensured they progress.

“What did they give me? Heart, passion, desire. The connect that we have been wanting and that we’ve got. I could go on for every with what they’ve given me today and all credit goes to them at the end of the day, said East, who was then asked what The FA Cup means to him and the club.

“The history of this club has as well. We want to continue to build that history and if we can continue to do that in The FA Cup – it’s my first as well being in The FA Cup as a first-team manager. I’m incredibly proud to be manager of this club, given this opportunity to be manager of this club. I wouldn’t want it any other way, so it means a lot, not just to me but everyone around the club and the players and the management team.”

Corinthian travel to play Southern Counties East Football League First Division side Lordswood in The FA Vase First Qualifying Round on Saturday.

Callum O’Shea’s side opened their tenth-tier campaign by beating Banstead Athletic 3-0 on the opening day of the season and sit in the table beneath Croydon and Greenways after one outing.

East said: “We’ll just take the next game as it comes. At the end of the day our main focus is Saturday, it’s not the Herne Bay game.  I know Herne Bay very well. I know the manager (Ben Smith) very well and I’ve got all the respect for them but for us our next focus and to make sure we win is Lordswood on Saturday and that’s our next focus.

“We’ll just play our game. We’re not worried about them. We’re not worried about any other team or anything. We just focus on us and make sure we get a result and we move on to the next round of The Vase.

“We want to finish as high as we possibly can. We want to make sure that we are finishing higher than where we finished last year (fourteenth).

“My aspirations this year is we want to build a side that have a structure, that’s got some stability and routine in there and we feel like we are continuing to build that. We’ve got a side that can do that.

“I’d rather just win. I don’t care how we win, as long as we win a game. I don’t care if there’s four, five, six, seven or eight goals, I just want to win every game.  That’s the whole reason why I’m at this club. We just want to make sure that we’re winning every game. It doesn’t matter to me at the end of the day.”

Lingfield: Sang Hyun Back, Jack McDonnell, Jimmy Williams (Stephen Hodge 72), Alex Kpakpe, Nicolas Bostan, Luke Richardson, Kwesi Ntim, Jason Stripp (William English 72), Rafael Barbosa (Gabriel Odunaike 72), Ashley Mutungerwa (Reon Donker 60), Iker Noguera Leon (Rewan Alyasi 77).
Subs: Guyni Nganga, Mayson Berg

Goals: Kwesi Ntim 12, Iker Noguera Leon 26, Gabriel Odunaike 75

Booked: Kwesi Ntim 53, Jimmy Williams 58, Alex Kpakpe 88, Gabriel Odunaike 90, Max Cousins (assistant manager) 90

Corinthian: Hugo Webb, Oliver Fryer, Luke Mandry (Oluwaseun Konu 74), Oluwaseyi Adehbehingbe. Caleb Afoke, Jamie Billings, Asanti Amoah (Alfawaz Dada 77), Alfie Cragg (Noah Kelo 71), Logan Wallace, Oscar Housego, Samuel Sarpong (Harrison Fryer 46).
Subs: Toby Waller, Fletcher Carnwell-Davis, Sonny Jemmett

Goals: Oliver Fryer 28, Oscar Housego 45, 64 (penalty), Jimmy Williams 56 (own goal), Oluwaseyi Adegbehingbe 61

Booked: Logan Wallace 51, Hugo Webb 90

Attendance: 95
Referee: Mr Luke Piner
Assistants: Mr James Beal & Mr Justin Roadnight

Match Duration:
First Half: 47:33
Second Half 54:15

Long throws into opposing penalty areas: Four
Jimmy Williams (Lingfield) 1
Luke Mandry (Corinthian) 1
Oluwaseun Konu (Corinthian) 2