Hawes, recently signed from Maldon Town to add power in attack, did just that in a fine team performance which saw second-half goals from James Rowe and Jamie Ricks, his first for the club, complete a comprehensive victory over the West Midlands side who were gifted a last-minute consolation goal after a mistake by keeper Paul Catley.

The only downside of the performance was the sending off of midfielder Sam Clarke who received a straight red card six minutes from time for a rash challenge on Sutton midfielder Jake Murrell who limped out of the action as a result.

Apart from Hawes, there was one other change to the AFC starting eleven with midfielder Luke Hammond returning. But skipper Gareth Heath was still unavailable resulting in Rowe retaining the captain's armband.

Once again there was good AFC support in the meagre crowd of 121 and they only had to wait 13 minutes before the deadlock was broken.

Home keeper Chris Gemmell, who went on to have a miserable afternoon, failed to cut out Rowe's cross after a corner had only been partially cleared and Hawes stole in to score with a header.

The home side came under intense pressure before they fell further behind after 34 minutes, when Hawes doubled his tally with an opportunist goal as his overhead kick caught Gemmell off his line and the ball dropped over the keeper's head into the net as he struggled to get back.

AFC continued to dominate but it was four minutes into the second half before they increased their lead. Hammond was the architect with a fine through ball that found Rowe, who shook off the attentions of his marker and rounded the keeper who had left his line, to score into the empty net.

It was a poor clearance from Gemmell that led to AFC going 4-0 up after 67 minutes. The ball was fed to Ricks who still had plenty to do, but he forced his way through as the home defence tried to make amends, to beat the keeper with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area.

Rowe almost added another seven minutes later after a fine move had carved the opening, but Gemmell pulled off a fine save.

Hawes was replaced to rapturous applause from the AFC fans with 14 minutes remaining and on came Lee Ifield for his first team debut.