match report: FA CUP – Wincanton Town 2 Fleet Town 2
Fleet Town travelled down to Somerset on Saturday for this FA Cup tie against Wessex Premier side Wincanton Town, cheered on by a coach load of travelling fans.
We made the stronger start and carved out a superb chance inside three minutes, when Liam Pestle played a long ball from the back to Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb on the left wing, Fareed ran down the line before cutting onto the box and laid the ball back to Chike Kandi to shoot, but the ball passed inches outside of the post. Fleet’s next attack came down the right as Danilo Cadete ran down the wing and made space for a dangerous cross which got hacked away by the Wincanton defence for a throw.
Fleet soon built again and a pass from the back came through to Mihail Marinescu who cut inside before firing a shot wide. The opening goal came after twelve minutes when Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb passed to Danilo Cadete down the middle of the pitch, Danilo advanced to the box and faced with Rob Hollard in the Wincanton goal, a quick side step from Danilo, he took the ball round Hollard and hit the ball towards the empty net, despite an attempt from a home defender to reach the ball to keep it out, the ball found the back of the net and Fleet Town were ahead.
Instead of the goal giving Fleet the chances to add to the score, it seemed to settle Wincanton’s nerves and they started to knock the ball about and build their own chances firstly a run by Connor Williams and a pass to Tom Mack, who shot and this was pushed against his own post by Fleet keeper Tom Theobald and came out to Harrison Foster who shot wildly over. Although Wincanton were having more of the ball their eagerness saw them flagged for offside more often then if they had concentrated. Fleet were still creating openings of their own but not looking as dangerous as in the opening minutes, a shot from Danilo Cadete was blocked by keeper Hollard and the loose ball kicked away by a defender for a throw. Mihail Marinescu lofted a high ball into the box destined for Chike Kandi but as he waited for the ball to drop to him, in came Rob Hollard to get to it first. Fleet Town made an early change when Chike Kandi felt a pull, he was professional enough to ask to come off, rather than try to continue and make it worse, he was replaced by another fan favourite in Dan Bone. Wincanton had a throw-in, in an advanced position, the ball was knocked around in the box and in the scramble a shot from Connor Williams was deflected in and Wincanton were level after 40 minutes.
The second half started in the worst possible way for Fleet Town, when a solo run by Darren McAlastair up the middle, eluding tackles, he took the ball past two Fleet defenders before firing the ball into the bottom corner of the net to put Wincanton ahead in 46 minutes. But it did give Fleet 44 minutes to look for the at least an equaliser, though it could have got worse when an effort by Thomas Mack for Wincanton needed to be hacked away by the defence at the expense of a corner.
As the half wore on the action became more and more confined to one end of the pitch with Fleet throwing everything at the Wincanton goal, often resulting in another corner or throw in a dangerous area as Wincanton defenders tried to clear the danger any way they could. Several time Ross Stepney launched long throws deep into the box but resulting shots and headers were deflected away or cleared. As tensions grew there were a couple of flashpoints on the pitch and Yellow cards branded by the young inexperienced referee, in what may have been too big a game for him at this stage of his career, as we have seen other officials produce different cards for these actions in other games.
As Fleet continued to push late in the game, throwing most of the side forward a deep cross by Josh Stepney from the right towards the far post by met by a towering header from Ross Stepney, the ball powered into the back of the net to bring Fleet Town level on 89 minutes. With a little added time, Fleet Town were looking for a winner and when they were awarded a free kick, Wincanton player Joe Beckey did not move away and when Fleet tried to take the kick quickly he was in the way and picked up his second Yellow Card and sent off.
Fleet ran out of time to find another goal and the match ended level.
