Two goals in six second-half minutes from Scott Kinch and Tashi-Jay Kwayie were enough to send Hornchurch out of the FA trophy in their preliminary round replay against Thamesmead Town at Bridge Avenue.

For 80 minutes, the Urchins produced a disjointed display, and it took a 25-yard belter from Mathias Fanimo to spark Hornchurch into life and produce a nail-biting finale.

But the revival came too late for Hornchurch, who pressed desperately for an equaliser to force extra time but came up short.

Thamesmead had the best of a scrappy first half punctuated by the occasional crunching tackle.

The visitors had the first clear cut chance of the game on 10 minutes, when a goalmouth scramble saw the ball prodded agonisingly wide of the near post.

Sam Mott in the Urchins’ goal was called into action soon after to smother Kwayie’s snatched close-range effort.

It took Jimmy McFarlane’s side 41 minutes to carve out their first real chance, when a twisting George Purcell run into the box from the right created space for Ross Wall, whose shot was blocked to muted cries of handball.

The Urchins started strongly in the second half, Brad Warner firing a first time volley just over the bar before Wall looped a free header just past Thamesmead’s far post.

But Hornchurch’s most promising spell of the game was brought to a juddering halt moments later, when Thamesmead centre back Kinch rose highest to meet a drilled in corner and head past Mott to give the Mead the lead.

The hosts almost levelled immediately, when a searching cross from the left found Theo Fairweather-Johnson unmarked, but he was only able to guide his header safely into Thamesmead keeper Lewis Carey’s hands.

And Hornchurch’s task got twice as hard on 54 minutes when a scooped forward ball from the Thamesmead back line forced a horribly misplaced defensive header from Alex Bentley which saw the Mead clear through on goal.

Despite Mott making a fantastic initial save, the Hornchurch keeper was only able to palm the ball into Kwayie’s path, who steered the ball home.

McFarlane rolled the dice and made a triple substitution, taking off the front three and introducing Leon McKenzie, Martin Tuohy and Fanimo.

It was a move that paid dividends on 81 minutes, when an Urchins corner was limply cleared straight to Fanimo 25 yards out.

The former West Ham youngster looked up, spotted the keeper off his line and looped a beautiful volley over the crowded 18-yard-box and into the net.

That set up a tense final period where the Urchins threw men forward and slung plenty of dangerous balls into the box, but they just couldn’t find the opening that would have forced extra time.

Hornchurch: Mott, Bentley, Porter, Hursit, Cooper, Roberts, Fairweather-Johnson, Chouman, Wall (McKenzie 66), Purcell (Tuohy 66), Warner (Fanimo 66). Unused subs: Kamara, Lambert.