City extracted sweet revenge over SCR, after having been knocked out of the FA Cup by them in the first game of the season, they returned the compliment by winning this thrilling FA Vase tie in a seven goal humdinger.
It was an exciting match in which City took the lead three times, only for their opponents to peg them back, before a ninety-fourth minute winner finally put the tie to bed and see City through to the next round.
City got off to a sensational start with a goal in the first few seconds. An easy enough ball played back to SCR keeper Craig Bradshaw saw him make a complete hash of his attempted clearance, aimlessly spooning the ball up in the air. Dave Pilcher wasn’t aimless though as he brilliantly hit the falling ball with a first-time, twenty-five yard volley into the back of the empty SCR net for 1-0.
SCR tried to respond immediately with an attack twice well defended by City and then a corner that was confidently taken by City keeper Jack Delo, but that was a brief response from the visitors though because under pressure from City they began to simply fall apart. A sparkling attack down the right from Gary Mickelborough looked promising but he just overran the ball before a smart turn from the same player then made himself some space before finding Stuart King whose lovely lay back saw Laurence Harvey take aim but fire just over the bar.
City were doing all the pressing and SCR just couldn’t cope. Dissent in the ranks was rapidly spreading as management and players clashed over who should be doing what and who was supposed to where, in particular a long foulmouthed exchange between Bradshaw and the bench saw him question just about everything that was going on including the tactics, the formation and even the team selection. This did nothing to enhance their club and wasn’t particularly edifying for the watching supporters either.
For their part though, City just got on with it and a header from a long throw dropped nicely for Pilcher, but he volleyed just over. An attacking free-kick for SCR was really wasted with an easy header away while Matt Farrell sliced a shot horribly wide of the City goal. Connor Sanders battled his way through the middle and after a neat one-two with King, he couldn’t get any power in his shot and Bradshaw was able to make an easy save.
Eventually the visitors started to get their act in sync and began to string a few moves together, much easier to do when you concentrate on beating your opponents and not yourselves! On thirty-five minutes they equalised when they cut City apart with a ball down the right into acres of space that was latched onto by Farrell with an overlapping run and his first time cross was swept home on the move by Liam Holden giving Delo no chance for 1-1.
James Taylor then headed over for the visitors before in the forty-fourth minute City restored their lead. Matt Martin broke through the middle and found Pilcher alongside him in support and played the perfect through ball that allowed Pilcher to run on and taking the ball in his stride, he calmly and accurately stroked it past the advancing keeper, low and just inside the far post for 2-1.
With barely another minute gone, City almost bagged their third when Pilcher pounced on a laid off ball from King, only to see the keeper just about pull out enough of a save to deny him a first-half hat-trick. Half-time soon arrived with City a goal to the good and no doubt looking to consolidate from there as SCR trudged off with a sulking Bradshaw still clearly not at his happiest!
Whatever was said at half-time in the City dressing home, it’s safe to say it wasn’t let’s concede in the first few seconds, but that was exactly what happened and it was in very similar circumstances to City’s opener. A long punt forward from SCR saw the ball skied up high into the air from a misdirected clearance and fly back towards the City goal, Delo was desperately trying to get under it but before he could, Holden got there first and slammed it into the vacant City net for 2-2.
It was a disappointing setback to lose the lead again, but City plugged away as Harvey headed wide and Kennett, saw his header deflect off a defender for a corner. A temporary lull in proceedings suddenly came to an abrupt end and the game exploded back into life when on seventy-three minutes a peach of a pass from King sent Martin flying down the right wing and into the box. Bradshaw came sliding out and as Martin knocked the ball past him, he was taken down by the keeper with his follow through, the clearest of penalties you’ll ever see and there was no hesitation in it being awarded. Unfortunately the keeper felt otherwise and made sure everybody knew about it. The petulant display that followed did nobody, especially himself any credit. Arguing with supporters, officials and opponents alike, getting in the face of City’s penalty taker and then complaining about where the ball was on the spot did him no good whatsoever as Pilcher just stepped up and thrashed the spot-kick home past him for 3-2 and a fabulous hat-trick.
The keeper then let his side down completely when he could no longer control his displeasure and threw the ball at Pilcher as he walked away leaving the referee no option but to show him a straight red card. After much delay, the keeper who had been reluctant to leave initially, finally did so but not before he had thrown his shirt angrily on to the field of play and his gloves into the back of the net. After a further delay and in the age it took SCR to sort out their replacement keeper, the referee took exception to something that was said on the bench and sent off a member of City’s coaching staff and then even more strangely summoned Pilcher forward and showed him a yellow card – answers on a postcard please for that one!
With their opponents down to ten men and City having regained the lead, the hosts were now surely, firmly in the driving seat. SCR were chasing the game and gaps were appearing. Twice Martin got down the right but the first attack fizzled out from a promising position and then his pull back from the second was cleared. A quick free-kick from SCR was blasted over the goal, the stand and the trees while Pat Nzuzi did well to clear a low dangerous ball across the City box while facing his own goal. However with just nine minutes of the ninety remaining, disaster struck for City as the resultant corner was sent over and Delo, with it seemingly covered, firstly had the ball and then lost it and Daryl Cooper-Smith was on hand to knock it home into an empty net for 3-3 and to have extra time beckoning.
Having said that there was still plenty of time to go following the long delay sorting out the sending off and it was City who made the most of it. Four minutes into stoppage time, a ball from the left saw a Harvey header cleared off the line and as the ball came back out, Sanders reacted the quickest moving swiftly to come through a crowd of players and loop his own header into the top corner, over the despairing jump of the defender on the line to finally give City the winning lead at 4-3 and cue jubilant celebrations.
With SCR then reduced to nine men through injury and having used all their substitutions, City almost put the game out of reach two minutes later when Sanders won the ball well in midfield and slid Pilcher through only to see him roll his effort past the keeper, but also, a foot wide of the post.
An exciting cup-tie and a brilliant victory for City. They battled hard and fully deserved the win and earned their victory well. As for SCR, some of what went on in terms of their tactics and attitude, was far from satisfactory or acceptable and hopefully it will be a long time before our respective paths cross again.
Final score: Canterbury City 4 Sutton Common Rovers 3
City: Jack Delo, Gary Sayer, Pat Nzuzi, Joe Kennett, Laurence Harvey, Connor Sanders, Matt Martin, Joe Nelder, Stuart King (Gary Clarke), Dave Pilcher, Gary Mickelborough (Ian Pullman)
Unused subs: Shannon Harris, Rob Lawrence, Sam Conlon.
Images courtesy of Ian Ralphs