The UniBond Challenge Cup 2nd Round
The New Bucks Head, Telford
Wednesday, 14th December 2005, 7.45pm
Last gasp penalty denies the Moatmen
Gresley Rovers were denied their passage into the next round of the UniBond Challenge Cup when AFC Telford scored twice deep into injury time.
The Bucks started well and were soon threatening the Gresley goal but it was the visitors who took the lead after just 9 minutes. Jamie Barrett's through ball was perfect for Aaron O'Connor who shrugged off the attention of his marker before coolly rounding Stuart Brock and slotting the ball home.
One of the only other attempts of note in the first half came when Mickey Lyons played a one-two with O'Connor before putting his shot wide.
Right on the stroke of half time a superb block by Andy Simpson denied David Hamilton.
On 52 minutes Rovers went close to increasing their advantage when O'Connor put a header just wide from a Lyons cross.
However, four minutes later, Telford drew level when Darren Alexander beat Gresley keeper Gavin Saxby from 20 yards.
O'Connor claimed his second goal of the night when he fastened onto Barrett's pass and with the Bucks defence stationary he cleverly lobbed Brock to give his side the lead again.
The game was beginning to run out for the home side as Gresley looked comfortable holding onto their lead.
On 83 minutes Richard Beale's shot was blocked by Saxby who seemed to have been struggling after collecting an ankle injury a little earlier.
Gresley looked certain to be heading into the next round but Lady Fortune had other ideas. In time added on the Bucks top scorer Luke Reynolds was afforded far too much space and he slotted the ball home. However, that was not the end of the story. In the 4th minute of injury time Sean Parrish floated a free kick into the Gresley box that Gresley looked to have cleared and bizarrely the linesman flagged of an offence unseen by most of the crowd including the referee. After a brief consultation referee Mr Castle pointed to the spot. Reynolds sent Saxby the wrong way to grab an unlikely and totally unjust victory.
Manager's View
"The penalty decision was absolutley ridiculous. How on earth can the linesman see what is going on when they have loaded a ball into the box and there are about 20 players trying to get on the end of it?
"Apparently, he gave it for Matt Millns holding Kyle Perry, bit I'm absolutely fuming at the decision.
"I'm despondent. Yes, it is the league cup, which I've said before is not the top of our priorities, but we came here and put in a performance which was good enough to win the game.
"However, we must take the positives from it. It was a good performance, we showed we can do it away from home and the lads showed a lot of determination.
"Despite the manner in which we lost, I can't not be positive with the performance. We played some really good football - but the luck was just not with us.
"I thought Matt Millns responded really well after looking like he was lacking in confidence early on. Once he got his timing right, his confidence grew and Chris Brindley, who was here tonight, had a long chat with him at half time."
