Winchester City 2 Cray Wanderers 2

F.A.Cup (sponsored by E.on) First Qualifying Round

City go to Cup replay

City came within the width of a goalpost of going through to the next round of the FA Cup sponsored by E.on, at home to Cray wanderers on Staurday. Chris Flood?s second half shot bounced off the post and had it gone in City would have been 3-1 up.

It was Cray who started the best, however, and for the first ten minutes City were under pressure. The home side?s first goal chance came from a free kick for handball but Pete Smith put it over the bar. It was Smith who set up another chance, combining well with Lloyd Webber who fed Jamie Musselwhite. His shot was blocked.

Smith appeared to want to write all the headlines in this game when he made a rare mistake which saw City conceded a corner. Although Cray?s Gary Abbott headed home the corner kick (20th minute) there was an element of farce about the situation. Whilst signalling the corner the Referee?s Assistant dropped his flag and unfortunately it was trodden on and broken on by a member of the Cray bench. The Assistant ran across the pitch to the dressing room to collect a new flag and in the meantime the Referee investigated the situation which resulted in the Cray Manager Ian Jenkins being sent off from the bench. It was nearly four minutes from the time the corner was granted to it being taken.

It only took Winchester seven minutes to recover from this setback and get back on terms. Smith dropped a free kick into the chest of Tom Varecka who controlled it well before advancing on goal. The Cray keeper, Steve Northwood, came off his line and upended Varecka and the Referee had no hesitation in awarding the spot kick. Musselwhite cooly netted the penalty.

Both teams had the chance to take the lead before half time. A long range shot from cray?s matt Lee saw keeper Dave Hook dive to his right to push
the goal-bound ball away and Dave Goss got a feint touch to a free kick in the Cray box which the keeper gathered at the second attempt.

Flood replaced Richard Mealey at the start of the second half but it was Hook who was called into action first as he tipped a Cray shot over the bar.

Flood made his presence felt with a penetrating run to set up Verecka but he shot weakly. Smith set the game alight in the 60th minute with a fine
solo run and an unstoppable shot to give City the lead.

Musselwhite and Webber wrong-footed the Cray defence with some constructive interplay for the latter to fire in a shot which was brilliantly saved by
the Cray keeper. City had another chance to wrap up the match when Musselwhite chose to pass across the face of goal instead of shooting when well placed. The came Flood?s shot against the post.

Cray gained their chance of a replay with a superb shot in the 80th minute. Leigh Bremmar picked up the ball in midfield and fired home from 30 yards.

The replay will be on Tuesday 19th September at Bromley F.C. (Cray groundshare with this club), kick off 7.45 p.m.

City: Davis Hook, Sam Wyeth, Peter Smith, Dave Goss, Andy Darnton, James Davis, Lloyd Webber, Tom Verecka, Jamie Musselwhite, Richard Mealey, Danny Wakefield, substitutes Chris Flood (45), Tom King, Tom Biggs, Wes O?Connor
and Mark Zawadski.

Before Saturday?s match the crowd, players and officials observed a minute?s silence in memory of Hinkley F.C. player Matt Gadsby who collapsed and died during a game at Harrogate AFC last Saturday.