AFC SOLIHULL’s nine-game winning streak in all competitions came to an end on Saturday as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Enville Athletic in the Les James Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Having beaten Enville in Midland Three two weeks prior, Solihull made the trip with confidence and were nearly ahead early on when Jon Hamer’s shot was diverted wide by the feet of keeper Rheece Dawes.
Hamer didn’t have to wait long, though, and made the breakthrough after being played through by Kieran Evans.
As the ball bounced on the edge of the box, Hamer hit it on the volley and into the net.
Solihull were happy to sit back and soak up Enville pressure from this point on.
They did so fairly comfortably barring Enville hitting the woodwork on one occasion in either half.
Enville continued trying to exert their physical presence in the game and picked up six yellow cards along the way but it seemed Solihull would see out the result.
However, inside the last 20 minutes a speculative shot from Charlie Dudley slipped through the grasp of Solihulll keeper Mark Fitzsimmons and allowed Enville back into the game.
Then with ten minutes remaining, Rhys Morgan bagged his 16th goal of the season as he curled a brilliant strike into the top corner from outside the box to give Enville the lead.
Solihull were shocked back into life and tried to get back on terms.
In stoppage time Joel Hughes made a surging run and stood up a cross but sub Ben Whitmarsh couldn’t quite get his head on it and Enville progressed to the semi-finals.
Solihull return to league action on Saturday with a trip to Birmingham Tigers.
