Knaphill booked their place in the second round of the Cherry Red Records Premier Challenge Cup with a 2-1 victory at Redhill, coming from behind in a hard-fought encounter.

The visitors almost struck first in the eighth minute. Lynford Sackey surged down the right and pulled the ball back across the area. Thomas Harland-Goddard met it with a scissor-kick effort that bounced into the turf, looped high, and cannoned off the crossbar before Redhill scrambled clear.

But it was Redhill who landed the opener. A ball forward found Thiago Andrade, who shielded possession from Tom Wensley before laying it into the path of Timothy Obisanya. The striker skipped a late challenge from Dale Burnham and unleashed a strike from outside the box that arrowed into the left-hand corner to put the hosts 1-0 up on 12 minutes.

Redhill almost doubled their advantage on 20 minutes. Obisanya again caused problems, bustling his way past Burnham and Wensley before slipping the ball past Harvey Keogh. The effort lacked power, though, and Michak Stanic-Stewart was alert to get back and clear off the line.

Knaphill responded strongly and created another opening in the 32nd minute. Sackey whipped in a cross from the left which found Harland-Goddard, but his header cleared the bar.

On 40 minutes Sackey was the provider again, threading a ball through to release Ben Mitchell. The striker raced clear but dragged his shot just wide of the far post, failing to trouble Redhill keeper James Dillon.

Two minutes later Redhill went close themselves. Alex Laing swung a free kick into the Knaphill box, where it was met acrobatically by a team-mate whose scissor-kick effort smacked against the bar before being hacked away.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Knaphill found their equaliser. Jack Carrod drove the ball into Redhill territory and released Sackey down the left. He whipped in a low, dangerous cross that Mitchell stretched to meet, getting the faintest of touches to divert it into the bottom left-hand corner.

But Redhill weren’t done. In first-half stoppage time, Ryan Ferrar drove a low effort towards the bottom right-hand corner, forcing Keogh into a smart save to keep the scores level at the break.

Knaphill came out with intent after the restart. On 63 minutes they had penalty appeals waved away when Burnham went down under a challenge from Laing in the box.

Just four minutes later came the decisive moment. Sackey did well to hold possession in midfield before laying it off to Jack Baisden at left-back. Baisden slid a ball down the line for Carrod, who found space on the left wing. Carrying the ball calmly into the box, Carrod showed real composure as he worked his way to the byline before whipping a low strike across goal into the bottom right-hand corner to put Knaphill 2-1 up.

Knaphill saw the game out with discipline and control, booking their place in the next round of the competition.

It was a scrappy, end-to-end encounter with plenty of stoppages, but this was an excellent win for Knaphill after their recent run of form and it also avenged the heavy 5-1 defeat to Redhill at the start of the season.

Knaphill: Keogh, Lohmeier, Stanic-Stewart, Burnham (c), Sackey (Hamilton Green 90+4), Baisden, Carrod, King (Halloufi 76), Mitchell (Walters 70), Harland-Goddard (Cannon 80), Wensley.

By James Carpenter