FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Yaxley 1 v 3 East Thurrock United
THOUGH far from at their potential best, East Thurrock avoided the FA Cup pitfall that has dogged several other Ryman Premier teams against minnows with a win in Tuesday night’s second meeting with United Counties League Yaxley.
However, the victory wasn’t with cost and something of a slice of luck, as the Rocks had centre-back Rickie Hayles sent of for conceding a second half penalty, which Yaxley missed to put a dampener on a potential comeback.
He will now miss a second Rocks game through suspension, having been dismissed in the recent league clash against Hendon, and the tie, abandoned three minutes from the end of a goalless game on Saturday because of an injury to Kris Newby has also cost them his services for a few weeks.
Newby was at Tuesday’s rearranged match with his dislocated arm in a sling and he saw his colleagues take a first half grip on the game, though the first half hour was largely uneventful as the sides tussled with each other at arms length on a featherbed artificial pitch.
The nature of the match changed on 31 minutes when Sam Higgins opened the scoring with the game’s first shot on target, a low rasping shot that zipped across the plastic and between keeper Andy Stevens and his near post.
It opened the floodgates for a Rocks assault on Stevens’ goal and the keeper had to be at his best to keep out a strike from Harry Honesty after link-up play with Sammy Knott.
Moments later Lewis Smith’s alertness gave him half a chance from the edge of the box and the keeper got down well to save. Soon after Smith appeared to be felled in the box but the ref waved away claims for a penalty and at the other end, on a rare counter, Honesty was forced into a late tackle that gave Dan Cotton the chance to strike a free kick at goal, producing a diving save from Lukas Lidakevicius.
East Thurrock were quickly back on the attack and Higgins turned and forced another reaction stop from the impressive Stevens but the keeper was finally beaten again on the stroke of half time when Honesty ran into the box and laid a pass to George Craddock who drilled a low shot home to open his scoring account for Rocks.
The visitors picked up where they left off on the resumption and were rewarded on 52 minutes when Higgins crashed in his second from close range after a being picked out by Ryan Sammons’ superb cross.
Seemingly home and hosed, Rocks took their foot off the gas but Yaxley proved to have resilience in adversity that shocked the visitors and brought them close to a comeback.
Three minutes after scoring Higgins and Stevens went into a full-blooded clash on the edge of the box as the striker chased down a backpass and though the keeper bravely got to the ball first, the crunching impact of Higgins left him writhing in pain. Only yards from the spot where Newby had gone down on Saturday, the keeper received treatment for five minutes before, in the end, being helped from the pitch, unable to carry on. Higgins was somewhat harshly cautioned for what looked a hard but fair challenge but the delay proved pivotal in the game’s ebb and flow.
Outfield sub Ricky Hailstone came on and donned the gloves and immediately saw his side grab a goal back as Rocks, who had completely lost focus, allowed Matt Gearing to race along the by-line and slot the ball home from an acute angle.
Rocks might have repaired the damage but Hailstone produced a fine save to tip Higgins’ shot past the upright then was allowed opportunity to save Smith’s weak shot across his body.
The stand-in keeper quickly released the ball and in one swift counter Yaxley broke away and Hayles, in attempting to tackle speedy winger Deakan Napier as he surged into the box, brought him dawn and the Cuckoos got a penalty – and Hayles saw red.
Recent events have seen Rocks give away hard-fought leads and who knows what might have happened to their shredded confidence had Yaxley pulled a second goal back but Napier blazed the subsequent penalty over the bar.
To their credit the ten men of Rocks, aided and abetted by three successive substitutions, knuckled down and in the closing stages looked the side more likely to grab the game’s fifth goal.
In the end it didn’t materialise at either end and Rocks played out nearly seven minutes of added time in relative comfort to earn a second qualifying round tie on another plastic pitch, this time the War Memorial Ground of Ryman South Carshalton Athletic.
