FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
Alderbrook Recreation Ground, Crowborough
Admission with programme: £6.00
Attendance: 75
Match Rating: 4
After a false start last Tuesday when the league game
against Shoreham was postponed due to floodlight issues at the Alderbrook –
overhanging trees causing too low Lux readings around part of the pitch –
tonight I took in my first Crowborough home game of the season in an FA Cup
Extra Preliminary Round Replay, between two teams in the Sussex County League
Division One.
The Alderbrook Recreation Ground has not seen any
alterations in the close season. Not that it needed any, it remains a very neat
and smart stadium with excellent facilities for the Sussex County League. Admission price has remained the same and
still includes a programme. Crowborough have produced a good programme in
recent seasons, but it has been improved on this season, with a very colourful
and professional look, and plenty of information about the squad and recent
results.
Quirks of the football fixtures have meant that this would
be the third time that the two clubs have met in the ten days since the league
season started – indeed, Crowborough
have only played East Preston so far this season. After East Preston quite
comfortably won at the Alderbrook on the opening day of the season 0-3, the
first game in this FA Cup tie was much closer, ending in a 0-0 stalemate,
although apparently East Preston certainly had the better chances to win the
tie at the first time of asking on Saturday. They won their other league game
so far this season 1-4 at Selsey. Last season, East Preston finished third in
the Sussex League Division One, whilst Crowborough finished 15th.
On a warm and sunny evening, East Preston dominated the
opening exchanges, but from pretty much their first attack on goal, Crowborough
took the lead on nine minutes when Jason Barton, a member on Tunbridge Wells’
FA Vase Final team back in May, met a corner with his head and although his
header wasn’t particularly powerful, it made its way to the back of the net
through a crowd of players. East Preston
continued to dominate the game after this setback, so it was no surprise when
they drew level on 25 minutes through Tom Livett. They continued to look much
more the likely to score up to half time, but the score remained at 1-1. It
wasn’t a pretty half of football, with the ball frequently being drilled high
upfield at every available opportunity by both sides.
Into the second half and Crowborough’s already tough task
became even tougher when substitute Wayne Clarke was sent off for two yellow
cards in quick succession. Indeed, East Preston seemed to look to capitalise on
a rather erratic and inconsistent performance by the referee by frequent
moaning and overreacting to seemingly innocuous challenges, and for a period of
about ten minutes, Crowborough’s players did threaten to lose their discipline.
On 72 minutes, they fell behind for the first time in the tie when Joe Shelley
scored, but Crowborough really seemed to up their game after falling behind,
and managed to get an equaliser on 79 minutes when Sam Carrington headed in a
free kick. The tie could have gone either way for the remainder of the 90
minutes as Crowborough continued to look a more threatening side.
However, with the scores tied at 2-2, the match entered
extra time, and so it remained at half time in extra time. On 110 minutes, East
Preston went back into the lead through Darren Boswell, a lead which they held
on to fairly comfortably in the end, with players of both sides collapsing in
heaps at the final whistle after 120 minutes of all-action football. East
Preston will not travel to Combined Counties League outfit Colliers Wood United
in the next round.
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