Amateurs have yet to record a victory in the top flight of the Leicestershire Senior League following their promotion, but have won two cup clashes against Premier Division opposition to reach the last eight.

And, although Duffy would gladly swap the cup wins for league points, he believes his side's first Premier Division success isn't too far away.

He said: "It's coming together and we're onwards and upwards. We are playing football the right way, working very hard and getting our rewards.

"The club is moving in the right direction and, if we can finish outside the bottom three in our first season, then we will have something to build on for next year."

Cottesmore made a slow start to Tuesday night's second round clash and found themselves a goal down when John Quinn marred an otherwise faultless display with a weak header back to keeper Alex Brown which Kyle Dawes pounced on to fire Highfield ahead.

The home side got back onto level terms when David Bates' testing in-swinging corner sparked panic in the Highfield defence and a visiting defender turned the ball into his own net.

Eddie McDonald then sealed Cottesmore's place in the next round with a trademark strike as he beat three defenders before unleashing a 20-yard shot into the corner of the net.

Cottesmore Amateurs 0 Leics Constabulary 1

COTTESMORE copped their first defeat of the season against a physical Police side as they ended Saturday's fiery Leicestershire Senior League Premier Division contest with nine men.

Neil Duncan was red-carded after retaliating to a horrendous challenge with Jack Whyley also heading for an early bath after collecting two bookings.

However, joint Amateurs boss Steve Duffy was furious that the visiting goalkeeper managed to stay on the pitch after handling the ball outside his box.

He raged: "I have no complaints about our sendings off, but I couldn't understand how Jack got booked for hand-ball and their keeper picked up the ball outside the box and, although the referee gave us a free-kick, didn't send him off.

"I don't usually complain about referees, but I would like to see some consistency and the referee bottled a big decision."

The visiting keeper then proceeded to deny Cottesmore at least a share of the spoils as he made some decent saves including a one-on-one with Rob Lewin.

Constabulary snatched the points when a cross was deflected off a home defender into the path of Luke Solomans who smashed home the winning goal.

Duffy added: "The game had 0-0 written all over it and I was very disappointed because we should have got something out of it.

Amateurs' second string recorded their first win of the Leicestershire Combination Division Two campaign last Thursday night.

Tom Caldicott's solitary strike earned them a 1-0 home win over Lutterworth Town's second string.