The Peacocks face a 300 mile round trip on Monday evening for the replay after they drew 1-1 with Beaconsfield Town in the 2nd Round Qualifying of the Buildbase FA Trophy at the Viridor Stadium this afternoon (11th November).
It proved a disappointing outcome to the afternoon which had begun in poignant fashion with Forces Veterans leading the teams onto the pitch followed by the Last Post and a minutes silence in commemoration of Remembrance Day.
The game itself proved a case of so near yet so far for Town who started brightly but it was Beaconsfield who nearly snatched the lead when Andre Costa’ s rising drive was touched onto the crossbar by Lloyd Irish. Town hit back to go ahead after 28 minutes through Dan Sullivan who cut his way through the Beaconsfield defence to drill a shot inside the post. Further pressure saw Matt Wright and Matt Buse come close but a second goal remained elusive and Town were punished for not wrapping up the tie when Aaron Minhas picked out the unmarked Dan Brown to volley past Irish to equalise with two minutes remaining.
The Peacocks might have won it but Chris McGrath deflected the ball over the bar from close range, meaning the sides have to do it all again at Holloways Park on Monday evening. This also means the Evo-Stik League fixture against Wimborne Town scheduled for the following evening will be rearranged.
Reaction | Manager Leigh Robinson commented:” A frustrating draw and a nasty fixture on Monday night now. To be honest, on the balance of play, we feel aggrieved to have not won the game but only have ourselves to blame. We were pretty wasteful in the final third, had more than enough good moments to have won and of course in cup football you are always vulnerable to a goal out of nowhere with only a 1-0 lead and that’s what happened today.
It was a real case of ifs and buts today. If we’d got the second goal I think we’d have gone on to win comfortably, if the referee had given probably the clearest penalty I’ve ever seen on Ollie in the first half it could all have been different but we’re still in it and all to play for on Monday.”