Ewell's return to Saturday league football two years ago has coincided with the emergence of some new rivalries, though the greatest of these has been the one with their quarter final opponents, Cheam Village Warriors. Arguably the strongest two sides remaining in the competition, the victors in this encounter would virtually put one hand on the shield. Unsurprisingly, the animosity between the sides quickly yielded a series of tough tackles and tangles, though Ewell held their own despite Cheam's attempts to ruffle a few feathers. Within 15 minutes, Ewell were presented with a glorious opportunity after Kelly's persistence enabled him to steal a march on a Cheam defender who then swiped his legs away inside the penalty area. Chipperton fluffed his lines when the sides last met in Ewell's slender 1-0 victory, though he took no chances this time around and drove the ball home to open the scoring. The first goal was always going to be vital, yet Ewell had a long way to go before they could think about their involvement in the semi final of the competition. For half an hour, their gameplan to remain compact had worked as they dealt with whatever Cheam launched at them, yet this changed when too much time and space was granted out wide and an attacking player got in between 2 defenders to head home. Ewell continued to play patient football in spite of this setback, and they went in level at the break.However, within 20 minutes of the restart their efforts were undone as Cheam helped themselves to a 3-1 lead. The first of these goals came after Ewell failed to deal with a routine set piece, allowing a runner to rise unchallenged and nod beyond Ransom, who had already kept Ewell in the game with a couple of impressive saves. Whilst this goal was a hammer blow, Ewell's predicament became increasingly bleak when a fortuitous and mistruck effort from the edge of the box caught Ransom off his line and looped in. Nevertheless, a shell shocked Ewell rallied once again and carved out some half chances as they pushed more men forward, but to no avail. The disappointment was palpable at the end of the game, but Ewell's performance, whilst not their greatest, was also not wanting in effort or desire. However, they must quickly put their cup exit to bed and concentrate all their efforts on securing the highest possible league position, with 5 games left of what has been an encouraging season.