Saturday 6th August 2022
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
The Robins’ booked their place in the next round of the FA Cup after seeing off their North Yorkshire visitors at the Daren Persson Stadium.
A crowd of 260 were present as Marc Nash handed out four home debuts to Flynn Hodgson, Stephen Forster, Connor Oliver and Tom Potter as the hosts started the brightest and set the tone for most of the game, with large spells of possession, trying to carve their way through the Knaresborough defensive line.
Despite the large spells of possession, clear cut chances were few and far between for the hosts, Brad Hird thought he had broken through the visitors defense only to be denied by the linesman offside flag.
A few moments later, great work down the right flank from Forster, saw him skip past two Knaresborough defenders before crossing into the box, where the visitors were only able to clear as far as Wilson, who was unable to punish them.
Connor Oliver had the chance to open the scoring with a set piece, only to see the Knaresborough defensive wall stand strong to block his shot.
On 18 minutes mark, the break-through came for the Robins’ as they worked the ball up the pitch with a ball played up front, which was nodded down to Paul Van Zandvliet, who spun and hit it first time right footed from outside 18 yard box, beating the Knaresborough custodian Tommy Brown.
Moments later the Robins doubled their lead, with great work from David Palmer, who set up Brad Hird, who finished neatly to open his account for the season.
With still over 20 minutes to go til half-time, it looked like the hosts were going to run away with it and have the game wrapped up by half-time. However, that was not the case and Knaresborough started to come into the game, trying to catch to Robins’ on the counter with a couple of half chances, which did not cause any trouble for Hodgson between the sticks, Myers and Bexton were solid at the heart of the Robins’ defense and quashed any attacks the visitors were able to muster together.
Half-time came along with the hosts two goals to the good and one-foot in the next round.
The second half started pretty much the same as the first half, with the hosts having large periods of possession, continuously looking for ways to add to their lead.
The Robins’ found themselves pushing forward and a third was almost added after a dangerous cross found its way through the penalty area to find Myers at the back post, who’s stretching effort rattled off the post before Knaresborough cleared their lines.
The visitors were then presented with an opportunity to pull one back through a set-piece, only to see the effort fly harmlessly over Hodgsons goal frame.
From this point the visitors grew more and more into the game, and had another chance to pull one-back, with a deep corner to the back post, to see an effort hit the outside of the post and out for a goal kick.
The Robins’ then almost added a third, with a corner from Oliver, which was hung on top of the keeper Brown who dealt with it well to keep the hosts from extending their lead.
Hird then had a chance to double his tally for the afternoon, after some silky footwork from Wilson, played in Hird, who was just unable to get the ball out of his feet at the right moment and fired an effort straight at Brown.
The tie was then turned on its head in the 77th minute, as the visitors worked their way into the Robins half, and the ball found its way to Danny Edwards, who was given too much time and space and rifled his effort right footed from 25 yards, leaving Hodgson helpless to keep it out.
The Robins were able to see out the remainder of the game and confirm their place in the next round, in which they will host Seaham Red Star on Saturday 20th August.
The Pub & Kitchen’s man of the match award, was presented to Connor Oliver for an impressive performance in the middle of the park.
Next Saturday, the Robins’ open their Northern Premier League – East division campaign as Lincoln United are the visitors.
