WARMINSTER Town joint-boss Derek Graham must be sick of the sight of former club Amesbury Town after his side were dumped out of the Wiltshire Senior Cup for a second successive season.

Graham and Andy Crabtree’s Warminster were bested by Wessex League Amesbury in the quarter-finals of the county cup last term and on Saturday, the hosts had Tom Welch sent off as they were edged out 3-2 at Weymouth Street.

Warminster included former Frome Town and Bradford Town man Matt Minnis and fellow new signing Liam Wilkins in their starting line-up and the former combined well with Louis Sparey early on before Minnis and Welch both tested Amesbury goalie Paddy Crease.

After losing Sparey to injury with 15 minutes gone, the hosts took the lead as Henry McFerran hammered home from a corner.

But Amesbury’s Nick Turpin restored parity on the half-hour mark and after the break and the visitors went 2-1 up when Craig Jennings fired home into the top corner, giving goalie Scott Armstrong no chance.

The away side then netted their third of the afternoon as Dan Price’s headed back-pass hit Danny Finnegan and deflected past Armstrong on its way into an empty net.

This prompted Warminster into a reaction and after two injury substitutions, the home side pulled a goal back with eight minutes to go as Jack Miluk went on a mazy run through the defence before passing to Minnis, who beat a defender and then rounded Crease to score on his debut.

But their chances of snatching an equaliser were curtailed when the referee sent off midfielder Welch for an alleged elbow.

Joint-manager Graham is now sweating on the fitness of a number of players ahead of this weekend's trip to third-placed Cheddar.

Striker Sparey joins Alex Lapham and George Butler on the injury list, with defender Josh Brigham also doubtful for this Saturday's trip to Somerset.