ISUZU FA TROPHY | Third Round
Tuesday 10 December 2024 | Langford Road, Biggleswade | Att: TBC

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT WOES COST STAGS DEARLY, AGAIN

BIGGLESWADE TOWN             1
Joshua Steele 17mins

AFC TOTTON                                  1
Tony Lee 77mins

(Biggleswade Town won 3-2 on penalties)

AFC TOTTON’S BID TO REACH the Fourth Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy for the first time in the club’s history evaporated with a surprise defeat at the hands of the side currently dwelling at the bottom of the Southern League Premier Division Central, Biggleswade Town, on Tuesday night (10 December 2024).

The Waders took a deserved lead midway through the first half and, despite a second-half equaliser from Tony Lee, the home side did enough to hold The Stags to a draw and an eventual penalty shoot-out decider. Totton goalkeeper Max Evans then made two penalty saves, only for his teammates to fail to capitalise on that advantage, before Charlie Austin saw his strike pushed onto the post by ‘keeper Jack Berman to send Biggleswade Town through to host Oxford City in the Fourth Round.

Goalkeeper Max Evans returned to the team in place of the cup-tied Ryan Gosney, in a Totton side otherwise unchanged from the team that beat Chertsey Town at home, last Tuesday. With seven substitute berths available for this competition, youngsters Zach Earley and Owen Pelham were drafted into the squad.

BIGGLESWADE TOWN: 1. Jack BERMAN; 2. Charlie BRIGGS (Capt.); 3. Callum WILSON; 4. Nagheeb IBRAHIM; 5. Joshua STEELE; 6. Ryan DOHERTY; 7. Obi ONYEAGWARA; 8. Barsa MIRTEHMASEBI; 9. Liam ANDREWS; 10. Cyrus BABAIE; 11. Tsguim Guido FLORIAN. Substitutes: 12. Lucas GEORGIOU; 14. Sam TINUBU; 17. Louis YAMFAM; 18. Ben GAMMAGE. Substitutions: YAMFAM for ONYEAGWARA (74mins); TINUBU for BRIGGS (86mins); GEORGIOU for IBRAHIM (89mins). Yellow Cards: WILSON (Foul); ONYEAGWARA (Delaying Free-Kick); DOHERTY (Foul); ANDREWS (Time-Wasting).

AFC TOTTON: 1. Max EVANS; 2. Joe OASTLER; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT; 15. Roddy COLLINS; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR; 20. Tega AGBERHIERE. Substitutes: 3. Ben JEFFORD; 4. Mike CARTER; 6. Sam MAGRI: 7. Toby STEPHENS; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 17. Zachariah EARLEY; 18. Owen PELHAM. Substitutions: TAYLOR for RENDELL (45mins); JEFFORD for AGBERHIERE (62mins); MAGRI for TOMASSO (88mins). Yellow Card: TAYLOR (Simulation).

Totton kicked-off, wearing their cup kit of sky blue shirts, dark blue shorts and sky blue socks. Biggleswade Town wore all-green with white trim. The home side mounted the first attack of note, winning a corner on their right from a Joe Oastler block. The cross dropped in the Totton box and prompted a goalmouth scramble, which the visitors eventually cleared before Biggleswade Town’s attempt to launch a second wave attack was let down by a poor pass on the left flank for a Totton throw-in.

Luke Hallett was wrong-footed when The Waders attacked down their left wing, but Oastler came across to clear into touch. A long throw-in from close to the left-wing corner flag was flicked away towards the far side of the box, and Max Evans was able to claim the ball when it was fed back into his area.

Despite an inauspicious start to the game, The Stags should undoubtedly have taken the lead just four minutes into the cup-tie when Scott Rendell headed a long kick by Evans down for Charlie Austin in an advanced, central position. The striker quickly controlled it and released Tom Blair into space on the right, allowing the winger to curve a low cross onto the boot of Tony Lee, who inexplicably fired over the target from 6 yards with the gaping goalmouth at his mercy.

Evans was forced to make a low save, diving to his left, to deny a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Then, Hallett did well to track and eventually out-muscle #10 after he had brought the ball down in midfield and, with considerable skill and pace, set about launching a one-man raid on the Totton box.

Roddy Collins found Austin on Totton’s left wing. He centred to the edge of the box where Lee met it with a low left-footed shot that Town goalkeeper Jack Berman saved well to his left.

Obi Onyeagwara showed neat footwork to weave between Totton players in the middle and feed Nagheeb Ibrahim on the left. Oastler headed out the cross and was then brought down as he tried to run the ball out of defence.

Biggleswade Town defender Josh Steele beat Lee to Blair’s up-and-under to prevent the striker running through on goal, and within seconds the home side won a free-kick to the right of the Totton penalty area, following a foul by Tega Agberhiere, for which the referee gave him a ticking off. The ball was fire across the six-yard box where Waders captain Joshua STEELE met it to head past Evans and put his team in front.

Lee tried to burrow his way into the Biggleswade Town box from the left-hand side. A defender’s attempt to clear worked in Totton’s favour, with the ball ricocheting off Lee and into the middle, but Steele beat Rendell in the air. Then, Oastler and Agberhiere were caught going for the same ball down the middle of the pitch; Kennedy was able to cover behind them and tidy up with a pass back to Evans, before a lurking green-shirted attacker could take advantage.

Left-back Callum Wilson was shown a yellow card after he fouled Blair and then pulled the winger to the ground to prevent him taking a quick free-kick, with Tomasso making a darting run into space on the right. When he was able to take the fee-kick unopposed, Blair’s delivery found Oastler at the edge of the box but his header fell comfortably for Berman.

Blair got back to nick the ball on the edge of the Totton area, then Lee was spoken to for a heavy challenge on his marker, as he tried to shake him loose to burst through to run at the Biggleswade Town goal.

Evans had to time his challenge perfectly as he threw himself full length to beat Tsguim Florian to a through-ball into the home team’s attacking inside-left channel, with Kennedy on-hand to pick up the loose ball and clear for Totton.

The ball was spending too much time in the air for Totton to get it down and assert any kind of possessional or territorial control on the game, with Steele and his central defensive partner Ryan Doherty able to cope comfortably with anything The Stags could throw at them. Kennedy was fortunate not to be booked when he got bogged down amid too many green shirts in midfield and hacked down Wilson with a kick that was more mistimed than malicious.

Agberhiere dribbled forward down the Totton left, but when he ran into trouble and the ball popped loose to Tomasso, the midfielder’s back-pass toward his goalkeeper fell short, putting Evans in a foot race with Florian; Evans got there momentarily before his opponent to win a fifty-fifty tackle, with the rebound fortunately careering away from the Totton goal where the retreating Agberhiere was able to gather and clear.

Totton were doing the lion’s share of defending in the first half, and were relieved to see another long throw from the home side’s left touchline bounce out of play and into the side-netting as it threatened to undo The Stags’ defence at the near post.

A poor pass out of defence had Totton on the back foot, again, and there were claims for a penalty when a Biggleswade Town forward went down under Agberhiere’s challenge inside the box, but the referee was unperturbed.

An offside decision against Lee brought indignant shouts from the Totton contingent, as the evening began to feel like one of those nights where everything that could go wrong was doing so. Oastler had to make another block at the byline to concede a corner on the home side’s right, which Totton initially cleared before having to defend another one within a minute. This time, the delivery looped over Hallett and dropped onto the head of a Biggleswade Town player at the back post but he knew little about it and could only steer his header wide.

Onyeagwara was shown the yellow card for delaying a Totton free-kick, after Austin was fouled about 15 yards inside the home team’s half. Blair launched the ball into the penalty area, over the cluster of players towards Hallett on the Totton right; his knockdown bounced across goal and wide for a goal-kick, summing up a frustrating first half for his side.

A mistake by Wilson gave possession to Blair, but as he carried the ball across the front of the hosts’ defensive line, they blocked off his path effectively to prevent him making forward progress, and although Totton retained possession, they were soon exchanging passes at the back between Evans and his central defenders.

Totton ended the first half on the front foot. Agberhiere fed the ball into the box from the left and Austin helped it on for Blair to strike an aged effort from the right. His shot was blocked and although it fell to Austin, the striker couldn’t sort his feet out and ended up tumbling to the ground, shortly before the referee blew time on the opening 45 minutes.

HALF-TIME: BIGGLESWADE TOWN 1-0 AFC TOTTON

Jimmy Ball withdrew Scott Rendell and sent on Ethan Taylor for the second half. Joe Oastler took the captain’s armband. Taylor almost equalised with his first touch of the game; Tomasso picked the ball up in the centre-circle and passed forward to Lee, who hooked it on for Taylor to raid the inside-left channel with one defender to beat. The ball sat up nicely for him to strike from a tight angle but Berman caught it at his near post.

Oastler lost sight of the ball as he made a challenge on Totton’s left touchline and it got stuck between him and two opponents. Tomasso was alert to the danger and dashed back to concede a corner. The cross struck a Biggleswade Town player in the middle, leading to another untidy goalmouth scramble from which Totton hooked the ball away. Austin was then able to release Blair on the counter-attack on the Totton right and Berman did well to bravely intercept his low cross at Taylor’s feet before the Totton No.10 could connect.

Oastler’s frustration with the assistant referee’s ability to keep up with play and accurately assess potential offside situations bought him a lecture from the referee. Then, Collins pushed forward from central midfield to enable Lee and Austin to exchange passes in the box, before Lee’s low cross-shot was turned away. Totton regathered the ball and forced a right-wing corner, from which Oastler’s knockdown was cleared as far as Collins; he dribbled it back into the box until a defender poked it to Taylor, whose left-footed strike was saved by Berman diving low to his left.

Totton were finally beginning to offer attacking threat. Tomasso pushed the ball wide to Taylor on the left, where he had his marker isolated, and was able to find Lee at the back of the box with a low cross. Lee tried to shift the ball from one foot to the other and shoot but lost his footing midway through the procedure. The ball ran back to Taylor who fired across goal and narrowly wide with a first-time effort with his right foot.

Lee tackled back to win the ball for Totton in the middle of the park, and Collins drove forward before picking out Taylor on the left, once more. The winger showed good strength to rebuff the first challenge on him with a firm shoulder and continued his passage into the Biggleswade Town box. Then, as he tried to go between two defenders, his legs got tangled amongst them and he hit the deck. Totton were expecting a penalty but the referee thought better of it, awarding a free-kick to the home team and showing Taylor a yellow card for simulation.

Taylor continued to carry the greatest threat for The Stags, laying off a short pass to Austin for a cross to the far side which Blair met on the half-volley with his right calf, looping the ball tantalisingly close but just past the top-right corner of the goal.

Ben Jefford came on in place of Agberhiere for Totton, just past the hour mark. One Blair corner was headed out and returned forward for another. This time, the winger’s delivery made it to the back post where Kennedy headed over the bar from close range.

Biggleswade Town awarded themselves a timeout by having their goalkeeper pretend to be injured while the rest of the team huddled around the home dug-out to take fresh instructions from their manager, and the referee watched on in blissful ignorance of the Laws of Association Football.

When play resumed, Collins brought down Steele as the defender carried the ball forward through the centre-circle. Oastler did enough to prevent the free-kick bing headed on-target at Totton’s goal, then a follow-up shot was fired wide of the near post from a tight angle on the home side’s left.

Despite that attacking foray, Biggleswade Town were committed to running the clock down, their players taking every opportunity to sit down on the turf and call for the attention of the physio, one of which prompted another impromptu team conference around the home dug-out.

Onyeagwara was substituted in favour of Louis Yamfam for the home side. Ryan Doherty was booked for tripping Taylor, as he was about to run onto Lee’s hooked pass that threatened to release the winger in behind the Biggleswade Town defence. The referee took a charitable view and issued only a yellow card.

But the pressure had been building from Totton throughout the second half and they finally drew level in the 77th minute. Jefford received the ball at the left-back position and threaded a beautifully-weighted pass between two defenders to free Taylor to dart behind them and send a low cross to the far post where Tony LEE slid in to divert the ball past Berman.

Totton were on top now. Kennedy intercepted a poor kick from Berman and found Blair on the right, whose cross was head out for a throw-in. The ball was worked to the edge of the box where Taylor had one shot blocked and then attempted an acrobatic volley for the rebound, that went wide to the right. Then, Blair tried to force the issue, dragging the ball infield as he went past one defender and shooting left-footed from 20 yards but without the necessary power to beat Berman.

Taylor, Blair and Lee combined to attack again but Steele manage to hook the ball clear before Lee could get his shot away from close to the penalty spot. Then, a Taylor cross picked out Austin in a dangerous central position, but the ball bounced off the striker’s chest and harmlessly into Berman’s grateful grasp.

Blair received a cross-field pass from Taylor and slipped Tomasso into the right-wing byline, for the midfielder to force a corner. Blair’s cross to the far side was headed back across goal by Oastler before the home side headed it out. In his attempt to regain possession, Collins fouled Ibrahim. While they made another substitution, Biggleswade Town did not immediately replace Ibrahim, preferring to momentarily go down to 10 men while the midfielder received treatment off the side of the pitch.

Kennedy had a shot blocked on the edge of the area from Blair’s lay-off. Then, Doherty used his strength to ease Taylor off the ball and prevent him taking advantage of Jefford’s through-ball. Ibrahim was eventually replaced by Lewis Georgiou, shortly before the fourth official displayed the board to indicate there would be nine minutes of stoppage time.

Taylor was flagged offside from Jefford’s searching pass, much to the disgust of the Totton players who were certain the winger had timed his run correctly. At the other end, Tomasso made a brace block on the edge of the Totton box to interrupt the flight of a powerful Liam Andrews shot.

There was more controversy three minutes beyond the 90 when Totton raided forward, again. Austin found Tomasso in the centre and he fed the ball left to Taylor, who had Jefford making an overlapping run further to his left. Taylor looked up and floated the ball into the penalty area where Tony Lee appeared to have his shirt pulled, dragging him to the ground amid loud appeals for a penalty from the Totton players and a small band of travelling fans behind the goal but the referee was unmoved.

Liam Andrews was booked for time-wasting. Then Sam Magri stepped off the bench to replace Adam Tomasso. Hallett had to clear the ball out of the Langford Road ground to prevent Biggleswade Town launching a counter-attack on their left wing. Magri headed away a left-wing corner at the near post; a follow-up shot resulted in another corner, from which the hem side lined up several players on the goal line, only to inevitably concede a free-kick of a push on Evans.

Totton had one last chance to win the cup-tie without penalties. Taylor forced the ball across from the left and Magri kept it in play beyond the far post. He rolled it back to Blair whose high cross was well-caught by Berman under pressure at his back post. The referee then blew the final whistle, meaning the tie would be decided via a penalty shoot-out.

FULL-TIME: BIGGLESWADE TOWN 1-1 AFC TOTTON

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT:

Biggleswade Town went first, Cyrus Babaie firing firmly inside the right-hand post. Ethan Taylor responded by sending Berman the wrong way; BGT 1-1 TOT.

Ryan Doherty stepped up next for the home side. He struck his penalty well enough but Max Evans made a smart save, diving to his left, to hand Totton the advantage. Tony Lee, who missed penalties in the shoot-outs against Salisbury and AFC Portchester at the end of last season, had the chance to put Totton ahead but his low drive was saved by Jack Berman, keeping the two teams level; BGT 1-1 TOT.

Tsguim Florian’s fiercely struck spot-kick nestled in the bottom-left corner. Sam Magri was similarly confident converting his penalty, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way; BGT 2-2 TOT.

Captain Joshua Steele, undoubtedly Biggleswade Town’s Man of the Match up to this point, handed Totton a second chance to advance when his tame effort was comfortably saved by Evans. But once again, The Stags failed to exploit the advantage as Roddy Collins smashed his kick over the crossbar; BGT 2-2 TOT.

Substitute Ben Gammage had the coolest head in Bedfordshire as he edged his team back in front with a nonchalant finish to make it 3-2 to Biggleswade Town. AFC Totton would not have wanted the task of keeping them in the Isuzu FA Trophy to fall to anyone other than Charlie Austin; the striker’s right-footed effort was nudged onto the left post by Berman’s right glove and the ball bounced out to trigger celebrations from the home side, who will progress to host Oxford City in the Fourth Round. BGT 3-2 TOT.

By Ben Rochey-Adams