Exmouth Town advanced to the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup after beating Street 1-0 at the Complete Infrastructure Stadium. 

Tom Bath got the only goal of the game, as the visitors were reduced to nine men thanks to red cards for Joel Jackson and Sandro Costanza.

Street had the first chance of the game, as a Town free-kick saw them caught on the break, with Ollie Knowles facing a two-on-one, but Town recovered to stop a clear shot on goal.

The game was cagey in the beginning with both teams playing with plenty of intensity and tough tackles flying in, with many players lucky to avoid bookings.

Morgan Williams was forced off early due to an injury, but his replacement Ben Griffith made an instant impact, as just moments after coming on, his cross teed up Bath, who tapped in from close range.

Loanee goalkeeper Frankie Phillips was forced into action for the first time after 22 minutes, as Jackson got a shot off at goal which was calmly collected by the Exeter City stopper.

Town would dominate the end of the first half, starting with Bath almost scoring a spectacular overhead kick, which was saved by Lewis Williams, and Jack Thorne failed to convert the rebound.

The goal scorer came close to getting his second, after Jake Llewellyn’s cross was pinpoint towards Bath, but his header was just wide.

It almost definitely should have been two as Nelson Iseguan picked out Thorne, who squared across goal to Bath, but a superb save from Williams forced it onto the post.

Six minutes after the second half, Street would be reduced to ten men, as Tom Bath was dragged down by Jackson, which prevented him from going in on goal, with the referee not hesitating to show the red.

More tackles and collisions followed, with Town starting to be the ones committing more of the fouls, with the hosts failing to capitalise on the man advantage.

With ten minutes of normal time to go, Costanza was given his marching orders, after preventing Denny from going through on goal, in a much clearer red card offence.

It wasn’t to be for Tom Bath after his first, as once again he found himself in a goalscoring position, but his shot was saved by Williams.

Aarron Denny and Isaac McCue both came close to extending the lead, but it didn’t happen for Town.

Exmouth advance to the next round, where they will play Brixham at the Complete Infrastructure Stadium.

ATTENDANCE: 303

LINE-UP: Phillips, Belsten, Llewellyn (Cann, 74), Landricombe, Riddell, Williams (Griffith, 20), Knowles, Denny, Iseguan (McCue, 58), Thorne, Bath.

Subs not used: Rowe, Shipton, Gardner.