Epsom & Ewell handed a debut to new signing Brendan Murphy-McVey from South Park, who started in the line-up.

Unfortunately, The Salts got off to the worst possible start. After just five minutes, Stefan Aiwone slipped while trying to defend and caught the Tadley forward. To the shock of many, the referee awarded a penalty and showed Stefan a straight red card — a decision that felt extremely harsh. Kieran Rodgers stepped up and converted the penalty to give Tadley an early 1-0 lead.

Despite being reduced to ten men, The Salts responded positively, playing some good football and pushing forward. On 11 minutes, manager Warren Burton was booked from the sidelines. Shortly after, Brendan Murphy-McVey almost produced a moment of magic, hitting a superb shot that crashed against the crossbar after beating the Tadley keeper.

In the 34th minute, goalkeeper Sami Nabbad was judged to have carried the ball outside his area as his momentum took him over the line. He received a yellow card and Tadley were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position. From that free-kick, Ash Neal doubled Tadley’s lead, making it 2-0.

Nabbad then produced a fantastic save to keep The Salts in the game as Tadley pushed for a third. The score remained 2-0 at half-time.

After the break, Tadley extended their lead on 56 minutes when Kieran Rodgers scored his second to make it 3-0. However, The Salts showed great character to get back into the match. On 59 minutes, a defensive slip by Tadley allowed top scorer Carl Oblitey to pounce and pull one back, making it 3-1.

Sadly, any hopes of a comeback were short-lived, as Kieran Rodgers completed his hat-trick in the 64th minute to restore Tadley’s three-goal advantage (4-1).

Warren Burton made changes to try and inject fresh energy into the side. On 68 minutes, Sean Michael Anderson replaced Jason Bloor, and on 70 minutes, Ali Forahan came on for the hard-working Brendan Murphy-McVey.

Just three minutes later, substitute Ali Forahan capitalised on a mistake by the Tadley keeper, who dropped the ball under pressure. Fofahan was quick to react, firing home to make it 4-2 and give The Salts a glimmer of hope.

On 78 minutes, Conrad Essillian-Waul came on for Ethan Brazier as The Salts looked to push on.

However, the drama was far from over. In the 81st minute, the referee appeared to lose control. He first booked Ali Fofahan, then showed Carl Oblitey a yellow card before sin-binning him. As Carl tried to leave the pitch, he collapsed due to injury. When physio Jodie came on to attend to him, incredibly, the referee showed Carl a second yellow and sent him off — apparently for being injured! This bizarre sequence left Epsom & Ewell down to nine men for the remainder of the match.

With their numerical advantage, Tadley added a fifth goal in the final minute through Oliver Rowan to seal a 5-2 victory.

The Salts battled bravely throughout, showing great resilience despite playing with ten men for 80 minutes and nine for the last ten. Unfortunately, some defensive slips and a referee whose performance left a lot to be desired made the task too great.