There were some high scoring antics throughout the country this afternoon as six of the west country's ten sides in first round action went through.
AFC Bournemouth 5-3 Tranmere Rovers
The first goal of the afternoon came at Dean Court where Bournemouth entertained fellow League 1 side Tranmere in what turned out to be the game of the day. In seven crazy minutes Bournemouth found themselves three goals to the good, top scorer Josh McQuoid grabbing two goals while Marc Pugh a stunner from the edge of the area. As Bournemouth eased off Rovers felt they had a sniff, Aaron Cresswell sticking a retort into the net and they were to get another before half time.
Centre half Ian Goodison scored a second with a header and shortly after half time they leveled the game through Ian Thomas-Moore. But four minutes later Josh McQuoid knocked home to put Bournemouth back in front and they soon finished Rovers off thanks to a curling Liam Feeney goal.
Plymouth Argyle 0-4 Swindon Town
The goals were also flowing along the coast as Plymouth Argyle faced west country rivals in Swindon Town. Argyle had already beaten Bristol Rovers in midweek and could go in confident against Swindon, but it wasn't to be as Sean Morrison gave the Robins the lead. With four minutes of the first half left Charlie Austin scored Town's second.
Into the second half and things got worse for the home side as former Juventus striker Vincent Pericard scored a tap in from Matt Ritchie's pass. It was then to be Ritchie to score Swindon's fourth netting with 21 minutes remaining.
It had been a disappointment among non-league circles in the region as only two local sides made it through the qualifying rounds, and only one of those teams would make it through into round two.
Forest Green Rovers 0-3 Northampton Town
Forest Green held out for thirty minutes against League 2 opposition in Northampton Town before John Johnson broke the deadlock with a spectacular volley and veteran striker Steve Guinan doubled the Cobblers advantage. Rovers were unable to force a goal, missing a second half penalty and they were soon finished off as Michael Jacobs scored with less than a quarter of an hour remaining.
But it was Wiltshire where Cup dreams came true.
Swindon Supermarine 2-1 Eastwood Town
Swindon Supermarine had made it into the first round for the first time in their history after a stunning comeback against Bath City in a fourth qualifying round replay, winning 4-3 at Twerton Park despite being 3-1 after 33 minutes. And their time in the tournament wasn't to end today, despite playing opposition, in Eastwood Town, who are playing at a level higher.
Within 27 minutes Supermarine were two goals to the good thanks to an Ashan Holgate prod and a close range Ben Wells volley. Lee Stevenson scored for Eastwood but they just couldn't get through the home defence and after a nervy second half the crowd of 2,603 at the Wood's Webb stadium no longer had to hold their breath as referee Hopkins blew the final whistle.
A Swindon derby in the second round perhaps? I can already see the bosses at ITV and ESPN foaming at the mouth.
Darlington 2-1 Bristol Rovers
It was to be a non-league side who caused another upset, this time against a west country side as Darlington upset the odds to knock out Bristol Rovers.
Michael Brough drove the Quakers into the lead early on but Will Hoskins placed a free kick into the bottom corner even though Rovers will argue they should have had a penalty as opposed to the free kick. Hoskins, Rovers top scorer, was soon stretchered off and things went from bad to worse in the second half as Gary Smith knocked the ball into an empty net to send the Gas on a long, wasted journey back home.
Bury 2-0 Exeter City
It's thought by fans and professionals that the gap between the top half of league 2 and the bottom end of league 1 is negligible and that was proved to be true at Gigg Lane. Exeter, 16th in League 1, took a journey north to Greater Manchester to face Bury, a side in good form and currently residing in League 2's automatic promotion places, so perhaps this was just an upset by definition.
28 minutes in it was Efe Sodje who gave Bury the lead from a Mike Jones cross and it was the same player who created the second goal for Tom Lees to double the Shakers advantage.
Rushden & Diamonds 0-1 Yeovil Town
Two more of our sides faced off away against Conference opposition and both came through their respective ties with late goals. Firstly, Yeovil Town.
The Glovers had failed to make it past the first round for four seasons, including a loss against this weekends opponents Rushden & Diamonds but their long overdue FA Cup win was to come this season.
After a close start to the match it was summer signing Andy Williams who scored for Yeovil despite arguments of offside against forward Dean Bowditch, although as he never touched the ball the goal was called good.
Mansfield Town 0-1 Torquay United
Torquay have been punching above their weight this season, fighting for a play-off place currently, but it was them who were favourites for their tie with Conference National side Mansfield, a battle of the yellows, and win they did, Elliot Benyon scoring with just three minutes remaining.
Cheltenham Town 1-0 Morcambe
The final game was an all League 2 affair, with Cheltenham Town fighting for a second round berth with Morecambe. It was to be yet another late winner for our side, Wes Thomas putting the ball between Barry Roche's legs
Two other league results from our national division sides saw Bristol City fall behind after two minutes against Preston. A Billy Jones goal, resulting from a Marvin Elliott header, won a point back for City. In the Conference Bath City also produced a comeback. Having been 2-0 down at home to Altrincham after 47 minutes goals from Nicky Clee and former Morecambe striker Michael Twiss putting the visitors two up before a Lee Phillips brace tied up the game for the Romans.
Six of our teams will go into the second round draw with the carrot of Championship and Premier League foes dangling in front of teams who will hope that they can get their name up in lights at the likes of Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.
No comments:
Post a Comment