So on a sodden Tuesday evening I made my way over too Hargrave Park for another Essex Senior League Challenge Cup Round Two tie between Stansted and FC Romania.
The winners knew they would set up a home Quarter Final against Hullbridge Sports and it was the visiting Romanian’s who almost got their noses in front after just seven minutes when a decent ball in from the left saw an effort thumped against post by Sergiu Maximov who was on the stretch.
Thereafter for the first half hour their were hardly any chances to speak of as the hosts allowed the visitors lots of possession but were there to thwart them when they tried to mount any sort of attack. You could clearly see the hosts had a game plan to sit off their opponents and strike when it got dangerous and not be allowed to be pulled out in order for the visitors to get in behind.
The game though wasn’t a classic by any stretch and seemed to be drifting along aimlessly, that was until the 33rd minute when Lewis Riches struck an effort against the post for the hosts and this moment sprung the hosts into overdrive as they went on a three goal burst in five minutes.
They opened the scoring on 34 minutes when after the visiting keeper had made a good save, a ball back in found its way to Luke Meadwright who smacked an effort into the net before they doubled their lead seven minutes before the break when Matt Price flicked an effort over his shoulder and into the corner of the net for a two goal lead.
And then a minute later the hosts had a third when Price thumped home his second and suddenly the Airportmen were cruising as we approached the half time break. However this did not deter the visitors from Theobalds Lane and they managed to find a way through two minutes before the break when Maximov saw an effort from outside the box slip through the grasp of Charly Aldis and in off the post. It was a crucial goal for the visitors although Stansted still had a two goal lead at the half.
Half Time Stansted 3 FC Romania 1
The second half saw FC Romania dominate the early exchanges and created two or three good chances to get right back in the game. You did feel though that if Stansted didn’t whether this storm that the visitors would find a way back into the contest and on the hour mark the visitors did make it 3-2 when Florin Pop slotted home after a terrific move from the visitors.
And sure enough with the visitors reeling from the barrage of yellow shirts attacking their goal the visitors won a penalty after Hayes had fouled inside the box and was probably lucky only to receive a yellow card for what looked like a clear goal scoring opportunity prevented. Anyway Andre Davel stepped up to level from the spot and this now incredible contest was all square once again.
Stansted had a couple of forays into the FC Romania third of the field but in all honestly the visitors looked much likelier to go on and find a winner and they thought they had found one in the 74th minute but saw the flag go up for offside.
However the hosts relief was short lived as three minutes later the comeback was complete as from a hosts attack Pop broke clear and bared down on goal and although his effort came back off the post, Arotarites was on hand to tap home into the empty net and give the visitors a 4-3 lead.
But this tie had yet another twist in it and with five minutes to go a corner kick sailed over a stranded keeper and saw Lewis Riches power home a header from point blank range and send the tie to penalties.
Full Time Stansted 4 FC Romania 4
Before the spot kicks had even began an interesting development had occurred when the hosts decided to change their goalie for the shootout, replacing Aldis in goal with skipper and centre half Matt Gill, who is rumoured to be a decent stopper. It did seem a weird decision though.
Anyway to the shoot out and after four penalties each it was the visitors who held the upper hand at 4-3, with four superb penalties too it has to be said. Stansted netted their fifth leaving the visitors needing to score to win, however they missed, meaning the shootout would go to sudden death, in keeping with the tie overall.
Stansted missed again meaning the Romanian’s would win with a successful attempt however they missed meaning the hosts were let off again. But unbelivably the hosts missed for the third time in a row meaning the visitors would win with a score and this time they slotted home and took the tie and their place in the Last Eight, phew!!!!
Full Time Stansted 4 FC Romania 4 (FC Romania won 5-4 on penalties)
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