Hungerford Town 2 Yate Town 3
McGrory (pen) 55, Bancroft 63 Dewsbury 1, 83, Stearn 90
FA Trophy First Round
Saturday 26th October 2024
An incredible final 10 minutes saw Yate Town come back from 1-2 down to reach the Second Round of the FA Trophy with two late strikes to ensure victory at Bulpit Lane, having lost there in the FA Cup just eight weeks ago.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, brought back the two Bristol Rovers loanees, Ollie Dewsbury and Jerry Lawrence into the side with Ross Staley and Stan Wyatt now on the bench following the 1-1 draw at Malvern on Tuesday evening.
Yate got off to a flying start in their first attack as Ollie Dewsbury made space for himself on the edge of the penalty area and fired into the top corner of the net to leave the experienced Ryan Clarke, in the Hungerford goal, helpless.
Above Ollie Dewsbury shoots to put Yate into the lead and below turns away to celebrate.
Yate Town settled into a pattern of possession football and controlled the game with their slick passing but the first half saw few chances created by either side with Jacob Bancroft forcing a good save from Aarron Sainsbury down at his near post in a rare Hungerford attack after 29 minutes whilst Lloyd James went close for Yate with a free kick from 30 yards that went just over the crossbar. Yate also appeared to have valid claim for a penalty when James Taylor appeared to be brought down in the rea but the referee waved play on.
James Taylor in the Hungerford penalty area.
The second half saw Hungerford attacking down the slope and they started to exert some pressure on the visitor’s goal but it was not until the 55 minute that they managed a shot on goal, this being a penalty from Louis McGory after Ollie Dewsbury had brought down a Hungerford player just inside the penalty area with a rash challenge and just eight minutes later Hungerford took the lead when following a move down the left Jacob Bancroft got a touch in the six yard box to steer the ball past Aaron Sainsbury.
Yate Town showed great resilience and composure to ride the storm and with both sides making substitutions the game was suddenly turned on its head when substitutes Stan Wyatt and Ross Staley combine down the left and Staley’s cross was met by Ollie Dewsbury who headed the Bluebells level after 83 minutes and the balance of play shifted towards Yate as they went for the winner.
Ross Staley’s cross that led to Ollie Dewsbury’s equaliser.
They won a free kick about 30 yards from the Hungerford goal but from this Hungerford broke away swiftly and Hungerford substitute Ben Hooper raced clear and into the Yate penalty area only for Aaron Sainsbury to make a critical save and keep the scores level.
But the excitement was not over as a Yate move down the right saw Lloyd James’ pass received by Ross Stearn in the penalty area and Stearn clipped the ball high into the net over Ryan Clarke to start jubilant scenes amongst the Yate Town players and fans. With four minutes stoppage time still to play the Bluebells kept their shape and organisation to pull off a superb victory to go into Monday’s hat for the Second-Round draw.
Ross Stearn celebrates the winning goal for the Bluebells.
This was a polished performance by Yate Town and a win over higher opposition bodes well for the future. It’s back to League football on Tuesday evening when Thatcham Town are the visitors to the South West Interiors Stadium and with it being half-term week the club are hoping for a good attendance before they make the long journey to Falmouth next Saturday.
Hungerford Town: Clarke, Medford-Smith, Jarra, Berry-Hargreaves, Sambu (Hughes 32), Bancroft, Akers (Lopes 81), McGrory (Spalding 81), Santos, Shepherd (Hooper 77), Tyler (Paget 90)
Bookings: None
Yate Town: Sainsbury, Taylor, Byrne, Dempsey (Staley 77), Larvin, James, Lawrence (Wyatt 75), Guest, Jackson, Tomlinson (Stearn 75), Dewsbury
Unused subs: Hillier, Nderemani
Bookings: None
Referee: Anthony Cross
Attendance: 252
Yate Town Man of the Match: Joe Guest
