The Peacocks earnt £6,000 prize money as they eased into the next round of the Emirates FA Cup with a comprehensive 7-1 victory over Bemerton Heath Harlequins at the Viridor Stadium yesterday afternoon (8th September).
The 1st Round Qualifying tie was effectively sealed by the break with Town five goals to the good although it took until the 29th minute for them to go ahead, Nuno Felix crossing from the left for Andrew Neal to glance home a header. This opened the floodgates with four more goals added in quick succession. Dan Sullivan speared home a superb drive into the far corner from 20 yards for the second goal on 31 minutes and Ollie Chamberlain nodded in Sullivan’s cross from close range seven minutes later. Sullivan got his brace three minutes before half time, a long clearance from Lloyd Irish finding him to round keeper Matthew Fredericks and finish in an empty net, and then skipper Matt Wright got in on the act just before the whistle, firing home a penalty after he had been pushed down.
Town continued to have a host of chances in the second period and brought up the half dozen on the hour when Wright directed a header over Fredericks from Neal’s cross. Neal became the third Peacock player to notch a double when he lashed home their final goal from the left side of the box with ten minutes remaining before Harlequins scored a consolation in the final minute when Joe Rawkins capitalised on a slip to drive past Irish. Town now await the draw for the next round which will be made at Monday lunchtime.
Reaction | coach and acting manager Rob Dray commented: “Mission accomplished. We wanted to play all our strikers today and just tweak the shape with Bretty playing in a Busquets-type role. After a little uncertainty this week, the boys were professional and put us into the next round. What was pleasing for Matt and I was that we didn’t stop even when we were five up, we were relentless which is important. However we realise that bigger challenges await in the next few weeks.”
Double goalscorer and Man of the Match Dan Sullivan said: “I thought today’s game went well overall, starting off slowly but as the match went on we grew stronger and the goals started coming. We were good defensively and in attack, and even though we were well ahead at half time we stayed strong in the second half, created a lot of good chances and could have scored a few more. A good result and performance though and we now look forward to the next round.”