FC Leytonstone missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the Supplementary Cup after losing 3-1 to Poplar on Sunday.

Poplar took the lead from a somewhat bizarre free-kick. The delivery was fizzed in and the Leytonstone defensive line were unable to clear and the ball was sliced into the path of the Poplar centre forward to head in.

Leytonstone were denied a penalty appeal shortly after when Bradley Williams was dragged back in the box, bringing a good opportunity to an abrupt halt. However, Leytonstone took some solace from the fact they had posed a threat during a tepid first half.

The Lemons snatched the equaliser early in the second half following some wonderful one-touch football. Ahmed Arab pierced the Poplar defence with a inch-perfect pass and Ibrahim Khan finished stylishly.

Chances continued to flow for both sides but neither were able to go in front until the 75th minute.

Poplar finally made the breakthrough with 15 minutes remaining. Once again the Leytonstone backline were unable to deal with a long ball forward and the Poplar forward capitalised on Leytonstone’s slip up.

Leytonstone should have equalised moments after when Williams broke through one-on-one with the Poplar keeper but instead shot over in attempting to lob the keeper.

And in the dying moments, the Lemons were caught out of position trying to sneak an equaliser as Poplar scored their third.

Leytonstone boss Munaf Abhram observed: "It was disappointing conceding three weak goals and we can only blame ourselves.

"But full credit to Poplar, it was a difficult game and at one stage it could have gone either way but unfortunately we did not take our chances and they did."