Hungerford Town 1 Yate Town 0
FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Saturday 31st August 2024
Yate Town suffered their first defeat of the season in a close fought FA Cup tie against higher league opposition opponents, Hungerford Town, and it was a goal in the second minute of the game that proved decisive and ended their FA Cup dreams for the current season.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, made two changes from the side that beat Exmouth Town on Bank Holiday Monday, bringing in Wayne Nderemani for James Byrne and Lewis Hall in place of Oli Jenkins.
With the hosts, kicking down the slopping pitch, they got off to a perfect start when Jacob Bancroft found himself in space in the penalty area and fired home after a shot from Zidan Akers had only been half cleared. This was the first time that the Bluebells had found themselves behind this season and they responded with some excellent passing football to dominate the remainder of the first half. Lucas Tomlinson and Marlon Jackson combined and to feed Joe Guest but he scuffed his shot wide of the post and then Wayne Nderemani was fouled and from the free kick Lloyd James found Joe Guest at the far post but he couldn’t quite find the target and test Ryan Clarke in the Hungerford goal.
Joe Guest’s header goes just wide following Lloyd James’ free kick.
With the home defence backing off Lewis Hall was invited to shoot and his 25-yard drive brought an excellent save from Clarke and then from the rebound a couple of shots were blocked before the Hungerford defence were relieved to see the ball out for a throw.
Wayne Nderemani shot from the edge of the area but this went wide as the visitors finished the end of the half on top but were unable to find that illusive equaliser. Kicking down the slope Yate Town would have hoped that they could take advantage of this but Hungerford were keen to hold on to their lead and defended in depth and it was only in the last 10 minutes of the game that Yate created any real chances.
However, before this, Hungerford managed to create a number of opportunities themselves with their direct play. Aaron Sainsbury was forced into making some fine saves to keep the margin at 1-0 and substitute James Harding had a goal disallowed for a foul on Sainsbury after 77 minutes, whilst Hungerford also wasted a couple of chances shooting well off target.
Ryan Clarke collecting this ball from a corner during the second half.
With the clock ticking down and Darren Mullings having made some substitutions in the closing period of the game Yate had strong penalty appeals turned down by referee Nicholas Whittington when James Taylor’s shot appeared to strike the arm of Matt Berry-Hargreaves and the with virtually the last kick Joe Guest brought a good save from Ryan Clarke down by his right-hand post.
Yate Town’s unsuccessful penalty appeal late in the game.
Ryan Clarke saves from Joe Guest in the final moments of the game.
This was always going to be tough game for Yate Town with playing a team at one level higher but they showed that they are capable of matching them but it’s often fine margins that make the difference and, on this occasion, they were just the wrong side of this line coming up against a defence that very well organised and compact and opposition that were also good on the counter attack and keen to hold onto their early lead.
Hungerford Town: Clarke, Medford-Smith, Berry Hargreaves, Spalding (Lopes), Akers (Harding), Softley, McGrory, Paget, Santos (Dobson), Bancroft (Watts), Taylor
Substitutes: Stanley, Wright, Miles.
Bookings: Paget, Spalding
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Christopher (Taylor 69), Hall (Staley (89), Dempsey, Larvin, James, Wyatt (Jenkins 81), Guest, Jackson, Tomlinson, Nderemani (Hillier 69).
Unused subs: Byrne, Felix, Batt
Bookings: Guest (67), Staley (89)
Referee: Nicholas Whittington
Attendance: 275
Yate Town Man of the Match: Aaron Sainsbury
Attendance: 275
Yate Town Man of the Match: Aaron Sainsbury