FA VASE 1st ROUND

SATURDAY 6^th OCTOBER 2007

 BARKING  2  V  2  DAVENTRY UNITED

4 - 2    After extra time 

DAVENTRY UNITED : Roger Leeson, Ben Collins, Ady Pestell, Jamie Moss, Duncan Harris, Wayne Richardson (Lee Reynolds), Robert Steel (Robert Steel), Richard Pannell (Michael Parkes), Tommy Waldock, Liam Hynes, Lee Roberts.

Good bad good bad good bad just about sums up our season at the moment we were awful in the KOC against Daventry Town, we were brilliant against Stansted, again we were absolute desperate against Blisworth in the junior cup scraping through on penalties, then at Barking we were brilliant again.

The journey down to Barking was not as eventful as the previous round, but we were venturing into the east end of London to face yet another step 5 club. We arrived to find a sadly worn out ground that had the features of once being a club on the up. The clubhouse had been deemed out of bounds by the local council, and like so any clubs nowadays, the few hard working hardcore followers are doing everything they can to resurrect there club back to what it was.

United started the match well with Tommy Waldock losing out in a one on one with the Barking keeper. Roger Leeson was called into the action early making a fine save down to his left, then on sixteen minutes United’s offside trap failed and Barking’s Wayne Vaughn blasted the ball past Leeson.

What happened next was sheer individual brilliance as Wayne Richardson picked the ball up in his own half and took off down the right wing. He cut inside the first challenge then unleashed a 35 yard drive which went in the top corner of the net to make things all square again. This was the pick up United needed as first Tommy Waldock then Duncan Harris went close. Lee Roberts fired wide and Wayne Richardson saw another effort from distance sail over the bar. Then with ten minutes of the half remaining, Barking were back in front through Jimmy Noakes, 2-1 at half time and United were more than in this cup tie.

The second half wasn’t as entertaining as the first half as United pushed for the equaliser. Roger Leeson was called into action more and more and stood up to the task well, making several fine saves. Then in the 90^th minute Tommy Waldock went through on goal, his third attempt at beating the Barking keeper one on one. He scuffed his shot, the only he had failed to hit the spot with but it didn’t matter as the ball flew into the back of the net to send the tie into extra time.

Extra time saw both sides squander chances with Leeson outstanding in the United goal, and this tie looked as if it was going all the way back to Northamptonshire to the Royal Oak on Tuesday night.

With four minutes to go Leeson pulled off a fantastic save to keep United in the cup diving to his right to concede a corner

From the resulting corner United failed to pick up a Barking player out the back of the area, the ball found its way out to him, he then had all the time in the world to fire the ball back across the face of the goal where a group of players dived in for the ball and unfortunately for United, Fabio Jesus reached it first and toe poked it past Leeson.

Jamie Moss was then sent off for something he said to the officials and as United pushed for the equaliser, Barking broke away again and Victor Oboui sealed the victory for Barking.

Our F.A Vase adventure had come to an end for another season, but again the lads proved that they are a match for any side they face. The Barking faithful gave both sides a standing ovation as they left the field after what was a very entertaining cup tie in the east end.

MOM  Roger Leeson