The FA Cup journey for this season continued this evening, with the visit of Step 3 team Margate FC to The Meadow. The visitors have had a mediocre start to their season, with one win and two draws from their 5 matches so far, so there appeared to be an opportunity to claim a higher league scalp from the tie. Following the defeat at Berkhamsted, Ben Williams made two changes, with Anthony Ball back into the team at right back, with Harry Jones moving forward to replace Alfie Anderson on the right wing and Herbie Townsend replacing the injured Tom McElroy. Welcomed back to the subs bench after injury were Jordan Jenkins, Jamie Rudd and Sonny French.

The Ducks started very well, taking the game to their opponents and could have opened the scoring in the 5th minute. Townsend did well to win the ball on the left, sidestepped a couple of tackles and spread the ball wide to Jones; he outpaced Taylor Fisher and got a shot away from the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was narrowly wide of the far post. Shortly afterwards, a free kick on the left was taken quickly and found Ezra Anthonio-Forde on the edge of the penalty area; he turned his defender and fired a shot from 15 yards, but like Jones, his shot was narrowly wide of the target. The one-way traffic continued, with Jones battling through 3 tackles and linking well with Anthonio-Forde, who this time saw his goal-bound shot well saved by Amadou Tangara. On 20 minutes, Pierce McNamara played the ball into Anthonio-Forde on the edge of the penalty area, who held it up well, before laying it into the path of Jones, who saw a powerful drive from 25 yards well saved high to his left by the keeper. Despite their dominance, the Ducks were unable to make the breakthrough and it looked as if they had fallen behind 4 minutes from half time. Good work on the right from Sam Blackman saw him beat Jake Bewley and cross deep to the far post, where Harvey Smith was on hand to tap home, only to see the assistant’s flag raised to signal offside. Just a minute before half time Anthonio-Forde had another great opportunity to open the scoring, when a long pass by Ball found him ahead of the defence, but his shot from 20 yards was again well saved by the visiting keeper, who was having a fine game.

The game erupted two minutes into added on time at the end of the first half; McNamara was fouled by Montrell Deslandes on the edge of his own penalty area after which the midfielder kicked out with McNamara on the floor. Initially the referee played on, but as the ball broke to Anthonio-Forde on the halfway line and he headed for goal, players from both sides got embroiled in a ‘handbags’ situation, forcing the referee to stop the game. After consulting his assistant, he showed the red card to Deslandes for his challenge and a yellow card to Bewley for his part in the aftermath.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-0 Margate

Into the second half, and the visitors were forced to regroup with their ten men, much as the Ducks had done on Monday at Berkhamsted. It has to be said, they were far more effective than we had been, albeit the scores were level, when we were 2 – 0 down at half time! They maintained their shape and defensive discipline, seemingly happy to settle for a draw and a replay on Tuesday evening. As on Monday, the game was mostly attack v defence, with the Ducks huffing and puffing, but not able to find a way through the defensive effort of the ‘Gate’. Chances were created, Bewley shooting over when well placed three minutes into the second half, and substitute Rudd hitting a weak left foot shot across goal shortly after joining the game, when he had time to advance and do better. The visitors did have their chances, 7 minutes into the second period James Bessey-Saldanha cut inside Ball from the left and fired a shot from 20 yards, which Archie Davis did well to save with an acrobatic leap to his right. If that was a warning shot for the Ducks, the visitors hit their jackpot in the 70th minute; a free kick conceded by Ben Seaton on the left was whipped in by skipper Ben Greenhalgh onto the head of giant striker Smith, who planted a header from 6 yards into the net to give his side a precious lead. 1-0 Margate

The irony was that as the play developed before the free kick, his bench was preparing to substitute him, his number already primed on the substitutes board! Despite all of their effort, the Ducks couldn’t find the right pass to the right player as the remainder of the game played out; not enough movement off the ball, too narrow at times, they were unable to find a way back into the game. Their last chance fell to Bewley, who met a cross from French with a well-directed header from 12 yards, but again, Tangara was equal to the effort, tipping it over the bar. The final chance fell to the visitors, as Adeyinka Cole robbed Seaton on half way, and set off for goal, only for Anthonio-Forde to sprint 60 yards back to put in a challenge which forced the shot to rise over the bar.

With the visitors running the clock down as much as they could, there was no way back and the visitors greeted the final whistle with mad celebrations, almost as if they had caused a ‘cup shock’ themselves. It was probably not fair reward for the efforts expended by the team, but a good lesson about match management and how to defend a lead, especially when reduced in numbers. We regroup and hopefully learn from the experience and prepare for the next match, the FA Trophy match against Evesham United at The Meadow next Saturday.