FC Romania 2 Hayes & Yeading United 2 (Emirates FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round)
Report by Scott Lanza
FC Romania will have to do it all again on Tuesday evening after Hayes & Yeading were able to get themselves back on level terms with an 83rd minute penalty.
The Evo-Stik Southern League outfit opened the scoring in this 2nd Qualifying Round tie after only ten minutes when Razvan Negrila played out a weak clearance straight to Rohdell Gordon who gobbled up the opportunity and fired the ball into the unguarded FC Romania goal.
After scoring the visitors upped their game but were not able to produce too much threat upfront, while it took until the 24th minute before the Wolves were able to rustle up a chance. On that occasion Cosmin Anton struck a shot that was straight at Jack Smith the Hayes custodian.
However Ion Vintila’s men were back on equal parity four minutes later when Florin Pop showed a clean pair of heels to speed past the United defence, round the keeper and then shooting into the bottom left hand corner. The Wolves were now settled and started playing some nice football that saw another chance crafted as George Taban whizzed over a cross from the right that Anton very nearly connected with. Hayes also tested Negrila after Spyros Mentis played in Rowan Vine whose shot was well saved.
FC Romania had certainly improved as the first half went on and they carried that momentum into the second period, taking only four second half minutes to take the lead. Sergiu Maximov drove a shot from range that looked like it was sailing into the net, requiring Smith to back pedal and just about get a hand onto the ball to prevent it crossing the line, however he was helpless to prevent Toby Cleaver burying the rebound.
The Wolves now had their tails up and moments after taking the lead saw a Taban shot crash against the crossbar. At the same time the defence upped their game meaning that Hayes were not able to create much threat beyond a free kick that was fired straight at Negrila plus a few speculative efforts that sailed widely off target. However Andrew Ofosu then rattled the FC Romania crossbar.
Unfortunately there was then an off the ball incident in the penalty box that resulted in Ion Constache being given his marching orders and allowing Manny Duku is level the game from the resulting penalty.
There was still time for late drama as a goalmouth melee in the Hayes penalty box almost saw FC Romania nick it but Hayes were able to scramble the ball away meaning that the two teams go at it again on Tuesday.
FC Romania: Razvan Negrila, Dinu Barcari, Cosmin Sandu, Gabriel Ghinea, Adrian Balsanu, Sergiu Maximov, George Taban (Capt), Toby Cleaver (Sergiu Pitaru 78’), Cosmin Anton (Augustin Voinea 86’), Florin Pop, Ion Constache.
Scorers – Florin Pop (28’), Toby Cleaver (49’)
Hayes & Yeading United: Jack Smith, Matthew Hall, Tommy Coney, Frankie Jones, Orlando Rodrigues, Harley Wise, Andrew Ofosu, Spyros Mentis (Capt), Rowan Vine, Josh Chamberlain, Rohdell Gordon
Scorers – Rohdell Gordon (10’), Manny Doku (83’p)
