THEY MAY have lost the battles, but Wokingham and Emmbrook certainly won the war.
There were two lengthy delays during this Reading Senior Cup clash with neighbours Woodley as both of Sumas frontmen Matt Booth and Tom Williams were forced off, the latter taken to hospital with a nasty season-ending shoulder injury.
But a late Elliott Rushforth strike settled the tie and sent Wokingham on their way towards another memorable run in this competition.
Woodley boss Michael Herbert admitted before this game he already had an eye on a potential semi-final showdown with Bracknell Town, but it was clear from the off they would have to work hard to get past Sumas.
Almost 100 fans piled into Lowther Road and they nearly saw an early opener when Ben Broadhurst missed the target after 12 minutes, while at the other end Carl Prestidge also could not test the keeper.
Woodley had the ball in the net on 20 minutes when Charlie Oakley finished well, only for the linesman’s flag to cut short his celebrations.
The game developed into a real cup tie with a midfield battle encapsulated by Joe Barley’s crunching challenge on Rushforth.
Any hopes of developing some rhythm after the restart were quickly halted when Booth clashed heads with United skipper Idris Kamara and although the Sumas man was bandaged up following a deep cut, he was forced off.
When the game got back underway it was looking like Woodley would be the side to break the deadlock with Oakley forcing Woodward into a good stop.
But on the hour mark they were an even lengthier delay as Sumas’ top scorer Williams collided with goalkeeper Alex Reed and dislocated his shoulder.
More than an hour later and after the ambulance had been and gone to cart Williams away to hospital for treatment, the game resumed but was quickly stopped again when Oakley had to hobble off with injury.
But there was eventually a goal when Rushforth latched onto a Tom Skidmore pass and fired in from 12 yards with 14 minutes to play.
Woodley looked for an immediate response when Prestidge got in again, but missed the target while late Liam Wilson and Jake Nicholls efforts were blocked.
Sumas move through to the quarter-finals to face Henley Town but they have league action first, hosting Holyport on Saturday (3pm).
SUMAS: Woodward; Carter, Giles, Lawrence, Broadhurst; Rushforth, Gibbs, Day (c), Goddard; Booth (Duffelen), Williams (Skidmore). Subs not used: Best, McNelly.
WOODLEY: Reed, Greenwood, Hooper, Nicholls, I. Kamara, Barley, Prestidge (Wilson), Morgan (Thomas), Oakley (A. Kamara), Jones, Beckett. Subs not used: Kang, Turner.
Attendance: 97
