ANTHONY White wasted no time in putting Highmoor Ibis on their way to a 2-1 victory over Finchampstead in their Reading Senior Cup tie at Palmer Park on Monday, writes Dave Wright.

There were just 18 seconds on the clock when he fired home a superb shot from the edge of the area that gave keeper Tom Bryant no chance.

Manager Marcus Richardson, a former Football League striker, said: “I would of loved to have scored a goal like that in my day. It was a magnificent finish.”

However, it needed a goal-line clearance by Danny Lingwood to deny the visitors grabbing a quick equaliser and Andy Barnard was also not far away from scoring.

“While it was 1-0 we knew we had a fight on our hands, but I thought the game became a bit scrappy,” said Richardson.

“If we had gone two up I think my players might have eased off knowing they were playing against a team from a lower division.”

White continued to be a threat and he went close before doubling the lead on the hour mark. He capitalised on a mistake in the Finch defence and rounded keeper Tom Bryant before rolling the ball into the net.

But the patched-up Finchampstead side – with two players making their first appearances of the season – still refused to give up and halved their deficit in the 71st minute when Danny Blatchford raced through to beat keeper Ashley East with a low shot just inside the post.

East then denied Blatchford and in the closing stages Richard Evans was not far away from grabbing a late equaliser.

At the other end, Highmoor thought they should have been given a penalty when Richard Witt went down as he raced into the area, but referee Stephen Hern awarded them a free-kick just outside.

Highmoor will be home to Thames Valley League side Mortimer in the quarter-finals.

Their Premier Division fixture at Brimscombe & Thrupp last Saturday was called off because of a waterlogged pitch and has been re-arranged for April 11.

Lydney Town are the visitors to Palmer Park this Saturday (3pm).

l READING Town's Division One East revival continued on Saturday when they held Headington Amateurs to a 2-2 draw in Oxford.

Japhet Osei put them ahead on 28 minutes, only for Luke Cuff to equalise just before half-time.

Cuff then put fourth-in-the-table Headington into the lead, but Courtney Lawrence replied to extend his side’s unbeaten run to five games.

Debutant Josh Perry impressed on his debut for Town, while player-manager Tranell Richardson returned from injury as a second-half substitute.

“Both sides could have won the game, but we played well and deserved our point,” said Richardson.

Town are away to Old Woodstock Town this Saturday (3pm).

New basement boys Woodley United’s home fixture with Didcot Reserves was called off last weekend.

United host Shrivenham in the Bluefin Sports Supplementary Challenge Cup on Tuesday (7.45pm).