Hadley 0 Milton Keynes Robins 2
Buildbase FA Vase 1st Round
Saturday 12th October
A man of the match performance from visitng keeper Owusu Kyeremateng saw the Spartan South Midland League Division One side pull off a shock result against a Hadley side still riding high after last week’s FA Cup heroics at Havant & Waterlooville.
The visitors tore into Hadley right from the start and almost took the lead in the opening minute as they worked the ball into the box but Jamie Sylvester blazed the final shot over the bar. The Robins continued to harass the Hadley defence winning a number of corners.
In the 9th minute Solomon Ofori was played in and had a low shot tipped around the post by Kyeremateng. Four minutes later and a defensive slip up allowed Ned Clarke to cross to Ofori who once again was denied by the visiting keeper.
Luke Ward meanwhile had to tip a George Shrieves shot around the post on the quarter hour, and the resulting corner had Hadley’s defence all at sea as the ball pinged around the six-yard box with Liam Smyth then poking the final shot inches wide.
Ofori continued to be a nuisance to the visiting defence and he managed to get past Callum Williamson and fire off a shot that Kyeremateng saved with his legs. And then Smyth had to dispossess Ofori after another pacey run saw him get inside the Milton Keynes box.
Ofori played the role of provider in the 36th minute as he threaded a ball to Clarke but Tom Oldfield’s last-ditch tackle prevented the Hadley player from getting a shot off, then Kyeremateng saved a Paul Wright free kick. However Shaz Anwar then placed a header wide in the final minute of the half despite being well placed and unmarked.
A minute into stoppage time the visitors then took the lead from a worldy strike from Alex Filip which was struck from 30-yards out.
The Bricks started the second half on a mission, but wasted a glorious opportunity in the opening seconds of the half as Ofari seemed to be through on goal but fluffed his lines, and then in their next attack Kyeremateng showed immense bravery to take the ball off the foot of Emanuel Hammond. And before the half was five minutes in Ofari had a shot-on-the-turn that was only inches too high, then Luke Jupp rifled off a shot that was cleared on the line.
Hadley continued their dominance with Ofori poking a shot wide on the hour, then Kyeremateng and Willimaosn combined to deny Hammond and Ofori. And the one-way traffic continued as a well-worked move involving Hammond and Jupp ended with Alfie Bartram having a powerful shot parried by Kyeremateng who was simply putting on a goalkeeping masterclass. Bartrum did deliever a teasing cross in the 70th minute that eluded Kyeremateng but Jupp could only place his header wide.
The visitors did not manage to create a goal-scoring opportunity until the 72nd minute when a counter-attack ended with Ward saving a Rob MacDonald header.
Five minutes later and the visitors extended their lead when a ball worked its way down the left wing with Shrieves then chipping Ward from an acute angle.
Hadley were soon afterwards reduced to ten men after Aaron Scott was sent off for a tug on Shrieves, with him being the last man the referee really had no option but to dish out the red card, and then the Bricks went down to nine men after bradley Marriott was sin-binned for decent. Filip then very nearly added more salt to Hadley’s wounds when a run, followed by a step-over, took him past two Hadley players with the final shot narrowly missing the target.
In the end it could be said that Hadley were maybe the better of the two teams, but they were unstuck by some top class keeping that prevented them from scoring, while their opponents hit the target with two very classy goals.
Hadley: Luke Ward, Bradley Marriott, Alfie Bartram, Paul Wright (Capt), Aaron Scott, Stephen O’Hara, Solomon Ofori, Yemi Buraimoh (Nnamdi Harold-Egole 46′), Ned Clarke (Emmanuel Hammond 46′), Shaz Anwar, Luke Jupp.
Milton Keynes Robins: Owusu Kyeremateng, Nat Beecher (Mason Spence 46′, Callum Williamson (Hateley Mercer 62′), Christian Beau-Pierre, Tom Oldfield, Liam Smyth, Ryan Coyle,George Shrieves, Alex Filip, Jamie Sylvester (Luke Gardner 71′), Rob MacDonald (Capt).
Scorers – Alex Filip (45+1′), George Shrieves (77′).
