Knaphill were held to a 1-1 draw by Hollands & Blair in their Emirates FA Cup preliminary round tie at Redding Way on Saturday.

The home side opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a well-constructed move. Max Lohmeier split the visiting defence with a superb through ball that picked out Ross Murdoch breaking into the box. Murdoch showed great awareness to pull the ball back across goal for Lynford Sackey, who finished clinically from close range.

Hollands & Blair hit back ten minutes later with a goal of real quality. A superb diagonal pass found Simon Kabamba, who beat Sackey to the ball and cut it back to Fred Obasa on the edge of the area. Obasa struck first time into the top left corner, leaving Knappers keeper Harvey Keogh with no chance and bringing the visitors level.

On 63 minutes, Harry Linch crashed a thunderous long-range strike against the crossbar; the ball bounced down and was hooked clear by Knaphill’s Michak Stanic-Stewart.

Knaphill debutant Igor Souza won the ball back deep in his own half and released Ben Mitchell down the right. Mitchell beat two defenders and pulled the ball back to Sid Cannon, whose effort was blocked in a goalmouth scramble.

Hollands & Blair carried a threat, with Joe Thomas denied by Keogh after a dazzling run, and Bailey Catherick forcing another fine stop from distance. The visitors came closest late on when substitute Vincent Bowman struck goalwards in a crowded box, only for Stanic-Stewart to be in the right place to clear off the line.

In the closing stages Murdoch hooked a ball over the top for Mitchell, who raced through on goal before being brought down by Kristian Wigg. The referee ruled the foul was just outside the area and awarded a free kick, showing Wigg a yellow card.

By James Carpenter