FA Trophy Preliminary Round - Replay
Tuesday 10th October 2006 - 7:45 p.m. kick-off
Abingdon United 3  Bromsgrove Rovers 2  (after extra time)
By Phil Baker

Easy to state the obvious but any team who has played Manchester United will be aware of the maxim of playing to the final whistle. Rovers were ahead for most of the first 90 minutes and would have been deserved winners had they not given away two soft goals in added time only to concede the winner just before the 30 minutes of extra time were up.

The game pretty much carried on from where it left off on Saturday with the visitors dominating the play from the start and Abingdon relying on breaks.

Neil Davis rattled the bar with a header on 4 minutes only for the ball to come out to Carl Heeley who got his first for the club when he headed home into the bottom left corner. Liam McDonald came close on 23 minutes when he bounced a cross off the bar but it was John Snape who got the second with a well-driven half-volley under Simon Tricker after the 'keeper had palmed the ball out to the midfielder.

Nathan Lamey could have put the game well beyond Abingdon's reach had he not had a 34th minute effort ruled offside and a 41st minute header had not gone just over the bar.

Although rather scrappy, Rovers continued to hold their own in the second half but were reduced to 10 men when Carl Heeley was stretchered off with concussion after Rovers had used up their substitutes. Abingdon could count themselves lucky not to have been reduced to 10 men as well as it looked like an elbow caused the defender's injury.

Rovers bad luck then went into overdrive when, with a few seconds of normal time left Andy Ballard found himself unmarked 25 yards out and hit a hard low drive past Chris Taylor then two minutes into added time Taylor punched a cross to Ryan Curtin who happily hit it back past the hapless 'keeper. Kevin Banner could have sealed the match for the visitors a minute later but fired a good effort over the bar.

If Rovers had not had enough misfortune more came with a minute of the first period of extra time to go, Paul Carty got a justified second yellow card for a tackle from behind and wearily headed for the dressing room.

Despite having a two-man advantage Abingdon could not stop Rovers from pushing forward and testing their defence. Richard Burgess in particular had two good efforts go wide. But Abingdon were also making forays into Bromsgrove territory and with 120 minutes on the clock Richard Peirson back-headed optimistically towards the Rovers' goal only for the ball to loop over Chris Taylor who was well off his line and into the net. Ryan Brooks got a second yellow two minutes later but it was too late for Rovers to take advantage.

So a sad end to the evening for Worcestershire men who now have to go back over 10 years since they last had a good run in this competition.

Abingdon: Simon Tricker, Dean Moss, James Organ, Richard Peirson, Scott Davis,
Julian McCalmon, Jermaine Ferreira (Ryan Brooks 67 mins), Andy Ballard, Mark Simms, Anaclet Odhiambo, Ryan Curtin.
Subs not used: Piers McGlynn, Tommy Hayday Mark, Luke Holden.

Rovers: Chris Taylor, James Smith, Chris McHale (Joe Williams 62 mins), Paul Carty,
Carl Heeley, John Snape, Liam McDonald, Mark Taylor (Stuart Skidmore 76 mins),
Neil Davis (Richard Burgess 68 mins), Nathan Lamey, Kevin Banner.
Subs not used: Daire Doyle, Paul Lloyd.

Scorers: Rovers: Heeley 4 mins, Snape 31 mins;
Abingdon: Ballard 90 mins, Curtin 90+2 mins, Peirson 120 mins

Yellows: Rovers: Smith, Heeley, Snape;  Abingdon: Peirson
Reds: Rovers: Carty;  Abingdon: Brooks

Attendance: 165
Referee: Mr N Hobbis (Birmingham)

Baker's MoM for Rovers: John Snape