Kwan Browne believes East Grinstead can compete at the highest level again after taking Firebrands to extra time in the last 16 of the HA Cup.

Firebrands, leaders of National League division one, eventually went through 3-2 on a golden goal against Browne's second division promotion hopefuls.

However, Grinstead matched their visitors for long periods and had three opportunities to snatch victory themselves before Simon Lanyon's hat-trick goal sealed their fate.

Player-coach Browne said: "It was a really good performance from us and we deserved to win.

"It was the best we have played and we were just unlucky not to score more than we did.

"We really wish we were in division one now because we know we would be going for a place in the premiership, which is where we want to be.

"Firebrands had one open play shot and all their goals came from short corners. They offered nothing really.

"We had the same amount of short corners as them and we had nine open play shots. There wasn't any difference between the levels. In fact, we played far better than they did."

Firebrands led 2-0 going into the final stages of the match thanks to two short corner strikes from Lanyon.

But Trinidad and Tobago international captain Browne halved the deficit with a short corner of his own and then repeated the feat in the dying seconds to make it 2-2.

Ashley Jackson and Jo Payne both had shots stopped on the line in normal time and, entering the golden goal period, Mark Ansell also had an effort stopped on the line when it looked like Grinstead had won it.

Right at the end of the first period of extra time, Lanyon decided the contest with his third successful short corner of the game, leaving Grinstead to concentrate on their promotion push.

Browne said: "We were hoping to go further in the cup but the league is where our priorities lie.

"We have dropped six silly points in the first half of the season but we are still in a very good position. There is a lot to look forward to in the second half."