Last Updated on: 18th februar 2022, 11:53 am
17.10.98: – Axa Fa Cup – 3rd Qualifying round : Crawley Town – Billericay Town 1-0 (0-0)
1-0 90.min.(?) ???
Att.: 1321
Match report: Paul Bakewell
Mom: Root – 8/10 – Great consistent handling thru the game- Match verdict: 8/10 – Crawley just about deserved it – excellent ground, food and programme!
Teams:
Crawley: Blake, Gregory, Payne, Taylor, Mackie, Viegas (Sub Warden 36), Hawthorne, Mcentaggart, Abbey, Ullathorne (Booked 9), Barber, Andrews, Mcewan, Santos, Sweet.
BTFC: Root, Goldstone, Davidson, Moore (Booked 33), Waters (Booked 65), St. Hillaire, Ridout, Parratt, Adekola, Gutzmore (Sub Blaney 74), Payne (Sub Barry75), Hooker, Brewer, Hudson.
Officials: Ref: P Leeds Asst. Refs.: J Garvey, A Wager.
The 3rd qualifying round of the most famous cup competition and what a venue. The Broadfield stadium was built two years ago at a cost of £7 million (financed by the council !) And what an excellent facility- one day, all grounds (incl. New Lodge !) will be like this (I wish!)
A fine, blustery afternoon greeted a large number of travelling Town supporters, together with the good news that both the injurded Payne and Gutzmore were available to play following special treatment kindly admistered by Leyton Orient.
It was apparent from the start that Crawley meant business. They had a strong midfield and solid defence, but the man causing most trouble was the busy blonde #10 – Simon Ullathorne- I hoped he’d quieten down following a nasty incident on 9 when Ridout appeared to be floored by an elbow – luckily he was only booked. The right side of the pitch was completely waterlogged but rather than exploit the opposte (and dry!) wing, Town and the inept Payne continued in futility.
Adekola looked particularly sharp at the start, with a good run down the left. A 25 yard shot on 27 from Ade forced a fine save and corner followed closely on 28 by a direct free kick. Our best chance of the match fell to a lacklustre Leon who beat the offside trap and defence with an open goal from 5 yards – instead of placing it he elected to blast it close enough for the keeper to save. Had we scored this I believe we may have won.
Instead,the second half and evenmore pressure from Crawley which increased in the last 20. In spite of excellent defending from messrs Moore and Waters plus great keeping from Root we finally cracked in the last minute as I made my way to the exit almost pleased with a replay. Alas It’s not over till the fat lady sings and a scuffle in the box resulted in a scrambled winner much to Crawley town’s relief.
Gutzmore and Payne were obviously not fully recovered or fit and subbing with Blaney and Barry respectively did not make any real difference. Let’s now concentrate on the league with the next game vs Hendon on tuesday.
