Cardea made 7 changes from their previous game against Fletton Sports for this cup game with Billy Thomson and Michael Denton making their Cardea debuts up front and in goal respectively. Bushfield was the venue for the match and despite the sun shining their was a cold wind blowing.

It was a poor start for Cardea as they fell behind after just three minutes when a back pass from Mike Dandrilli was sliced by keeper Denton and the Spartak striker was gifted a goal from close range.

It didn't get much better for the home side 10 minutes in when a defensive mix up presented another great chance to Spartak but Denton produced a superb save to make up for his earlier error as he flicked the ball over the bar for a Spartak corner.

The corner was wasted by the visiting team and it allowed Cardea to break up the pitch and after the ball was played into the box it fell to Brendon Chapman who turned and hit the ball goal wards but it was deflected over for a corner.

From the resulting corner Cardea grabbed their equaliser. It was a good delivery in by Billy Thomson who whipped the ball into the near post area where it flicked the head of Mike Dandrilli and Chris Arnold pounced to lash in his first Cardea goal of the season.

Cardea had a chance to take the lead just after their goal when a good passing triangle from Daryl Patrick, Thomson and Dandrilli resulted in a Dandrilli effort on goal going wide.

There were still problems at the other end of the pitch however and Denton had to be at his best again when two Cardea players were drawn to the ball and the Spartak striker had a one on one opportunity but a good smothering save denied him.

Despite playing poorly Cardea were still producing chances and Thomson hit the top of the crossbar when the corner he put into the box bounced back his way. Dandrilli also had a shot-cross that went just wide.

As half time approached Spartak managed to make another chance when a long distance shot hit the outside of the post and went wide. The referee blew the half time whistle and emotions were running high between some players during a full and frank discussion about the first half performance. Michael Moulds and Ryan Moore replaced the full backs for the second half and Daniel Robinson came on for Mike Dandrilli in the half time changes.

Five minutes into the second half and captain Patrick surged through the Spartak midfield but his shot from the edge of the area went wide. Robinson also had a good chance after Arnold crossed into the box and Robinson's shot was deflected over by the Spartak defender.

Cardea were looking much better going forward and a good one two between Thomson and Patrick saw the captain get to the edge of the area again but his shot was saved by the keeper.

Cardea took the lead after 68 minutes when a quick throw by Aaron Yeoman was controlled by Patrick who set Arnold away on the left side. He drove into the area and picked out the far corner with his shot to claim his second of the game.

Mike Dandrilli came back onto the pitch for the last 15 minutes to play as the lone striker and he had three chances to put the game out of Spartak's reach. Firstly a long range shot went wide, the second chance saw an attempted lob caught by the keeper and his final chance in the last minute was well saved by the keeper's foot after Dandrilli had done well to beat his man.

Cardea had to withstand a bit of pressure from Spartak in the final few minutes and were also entertained by the sight of Mark Weekes vaulting a garden fence to retrieve a stray ball!

The referee brought a poor game to a close with the final whistle and the result means Cardea will probably be travelling to Northamptonshire for the next round.

After the game manager Kev Webster said: "Thanks to the two debutants for playing, the first half was a learning curve for everyone as it's not been too often that this team has played together but I thought for 35 minutes in the second half we dominated the game much better.

"Overall not the best game we have played but we still managed to win which is a sign of a good side. When we are losing to the lesser teams we often try to pick faults with other people's games when, in truth, the teams first half performance was a poor one. We are a good side but when we start moaning at each other we lose that banter and team spirit we have, remember we are all friends!!

"Well done to Chris for getting his two goals and man of the match and a big shout to Denton who recovered well from a rocky first couple of minutes to produce some great saves to keep us in it. Also thanks to Daz for answering the late call up!"

Cardea return to league action on the 17th November when the take on Woodston at Bushfield.