FA Cup extra preliminary round

Abingdon United 1

Brimscombe 2

BRIMSCOMBE made hard work of their FA Cup extra preliminary round victory at Abingdon United as they came from behind to snatch a last-gasp Chris Paters winner, writes Scott Boulton.

Looking to find some early season form after an opening-day home league defeat to Binfield, it was Abingdon who nosed ahead before Ollie Pitt netted parity and Pates won it for the Lilywhites at the death.

Earlier, the Gloucestershire side started off brightly and the Abingdon goalkeeper had to be alert with Jack Smith, Sam Blackie, Pitt and Henry Birkett all hammer shots in his direction. They would have felt aggrieved to not have taken the lead early on and it felt like it was going to be another one of those days.

Abingdon had spells of their own and looked very dangerous moving forward. Ash Gale was called upon numerous times throughout the game and did a fantastic job in keeping the scores level. The Lilywhite’s came the closest when a goal ward effort ricocheted off the post but both teams went in for half-time at 0-0.

A defensive mistake gifted the home side a goal coming up to the hour mark. Sam Prior’s men battled hard and threw everything forward. Referee Tom Green awarded the visitors a penalty in the 65th minute with Pitt sending the Abingdon goalkeeper the wrong way.

Edd Major, James Campbell and Tom Pass all took to the field replacing Birkett, Smith and James Bremner.

The minutes ticked down and a replay at the Meadow looked likely, Pitt whipped the ball into the box and found the head of Pates who made no mistake in putting it away with a rocket header and sending the travelling support into raptures.

Brimscombe now face Southern League Aylesbury United at the Meadow in the next round on Saturday, August 24.