Post by ricardo on Jan 16, 2010 19:31:08 GMT
Having enjoyed the previous round and with the risk of getting roped in to helping the female members of the household decorate my daughter's room, I decided to make my way up to a very wet Sandy Lane. I am so glad I did!
First surprise of the day was the extenet of the visiting support - well in excess of 100, many decked out in their teams red shirts and quite vocal. As the game kicked off the majority made their way to stand behind the Dawlish goal while I took my seat in the small stand sitting between a group of home and visiting supporters.
Gresley looked the superior team from the start but completely against the run of play Dawlish took the lead after about 30 minutes with their first serious attack. A few moments later as the rain fell heavily, they had one of their central defenders sent off for bringing down the Gresley forward as he broke away to bear down on goal. The visitors took full advantage and scored twice before the interval.
At this point it was hard to see any way back for the home side and when Gresley scored a third soon after the restart it looked like the only thing that could save Dawlish would be an abandonment. But as the conditions worsened the Gresley defence started to wobble and slips let the home side in for not one but two soft goals. 3-3 and game on!
In what was now a cup tie mud bath (think Hereford v Newcastle), another sloppy tackle by a defender left a Dawlish player to slip the ball past the advancing keeper and steer it into the empty net with about ten miutes remaining. The Seasiders held out under increasing pressure with a number of committed tackles and blocks but in one final goal mouth scramble a red shirt popped up to score an equaliser and send the tie in to extra time.
The rain had not let up all game and both sets of players looked thoroughly exhausted but to their credit they fought on and tried to play constructive football. As the second half of extra time started the rain finally eased off but with little more than five minutes remaining the referee blew his whistle long and hard. Nobody on the pitch or in the crowd could quite believe what was going on. He was abandoning the match! The Gresley officials and fans were incredulous and now face the prospect of a return visit to South Devon to face 11 men when they were anticipating a replay at home.
I had been trying to follow the action at Saltergate on my radio but had to give up as the excitment on the pitch mounted. Excellent value at £5!
First surprise of the day was the extenet of the visiting support - well in excess of 100, many decked out in their teams red shirts and quite vocal. As the game kicked off the majority made their way to stand behind the Dawlish goal while I took my seat in the small stand sitting between a group of home and visiting supporters.
Gresley looked the superior team from the start but completely against the run of play Dawlish took the lead after about 30 minutes with their first serious attack. A few moments later as the rain fell heavily, they had one of their central defenders sent off for bringing down the Gresley forward as he broke away to bear down on goal. The visitors took full advantage and scored twice before the interval.
At this point it was hard to see any way back for the home side and when Gresley scored a third soon after the restart it looked like the only thing that could save Dawlish would be an abandonment. But as the conditions worsened the Gresley defence started to wobble and slips let the home side in for not one but two soft goals. 3-3 and game on!
In what was now a cup tie mud bath (think Hereford v Newcastle), another sloppy tackle by a defender left a Dawlish player to slip the ball past the advancing keeper and steer it into the empty net with about ten miutes remaining. The Seasiders held out under increasing pressure with a number of committed tackles and blocks but in one final goal mouth scramble a red shirt popped up to score an equaliser and send the tie in to extra time.
The rain had not let up all game and both sets of players looked thoroughly exhausted but to their credit they fought on and tried to play constructive football. As the second half of extra time started the rain finally eased off but with little more than five minutes remaining the referee blew his whistle long and hard. Nobody on the pitch or in the crowd could quite believe what was going on. He was abandoning the match! The Gresley officials and fans were incredulous and now face the prospect of a return visit to South Devon to face 11 men when they were anticipating a replay at home.
I had been trying to follow the action at Saltergate on my radio but had to give up as the excitment on the pitch mounted. Excellent value at £5!
