Chelmsford City beat Waltham Abbey in The FA Youth Cup.
Chelmsford City 1-1 Waltham Abbey (aet)
(Chelmsford City win 3-2 on penalties)
The FA Youth Cup sponsored by E.ON
First Round Qualifying
7.30pm, Wednesday 23 September 2009
Melbourne Stadium, Chelmsford City FC
Click here for all the results from the First Round Qualifying
Chelmsford City overcame 120 minutes of high-tension football and a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out at Melbourne Stadium to edge past Waltham Abbey in The FA Youth Cup.
Tyrone Scarlett netted the Clarets’ only goal as well as the winning spot-kick to climax the contest.
Scarlett had put Bob Batchford’s side in front on 25 minutes with a classy free-kick finish only to see Jack Barrett net from close range to equalise just six minutes later. The sides then couldn’t be separated, even after extra-time, resulting in a nail-biting shootout which saw City fail with their first two only to surge back through Adam Vyse, Sean Jackson and Scarlett to win with their fifth and final strike.
Batchford was delighted with the victory after the game, despite revealing he nearly didn’t make it that far.
“I thought my heart was going to burst for a moment," he said. "We had a game plan which they disrupted and they defended with eight players at times. They had a good goalkeeper who could kick the length of the pitch but our own ‘keeper was outstanding and made some great saves during the game and in the shootout. We weren’t as good as we were in the Romford game but stuck to our task and created chances."
Having come through the Romford match 5-0 and with relative ease, Chelmsford faced a much stiffer challenge against a physical Abbey outfit and custodian Lewis Batchford had to be on top form all night to produce a vital performance between the sticks to deny the visitors. Just after the half-hour mark he then had a lead to defend when a free-kick was awarded just outside the box and Scarlett nonchalantly passed the dead ball into the top right-hand corner, leaving ‘keeper Aaron Tilbrook with no chance.
Though any plans Chelmsford had of a repeat of their Preliminary Round scoreline were quickly quelled when Barrett was put into space and, despite being quickly closed down, he showed sufficient power and persistence to maintain control and make a crucial final touch to roll past Batchford and low into the net. That was how things stayed at the interval, despite Abbey hitting the bar beforehand and Josh Brown robbing a defender of the ball at the other end and ramming first-time across the face of goal.
Chances came and went for both sides during the remainder of normal time, especially to Stuart Latimer and Jackson for the hosts, and it was a similar story during extra-time as tensions mounted and both clubs fought hard. Then, when City were unsuccessful with their first pair of spot-kicks, a wayward effort from Abbey’s Stuart Christy turned the tie and the young Clarets maintained their nerve with the last three.
They now advance to the next round where they will entertain Grays Athletic or Halstead Town.
Chelmsford City
1 Lewis Batchford, 2 Jordon White, 3 Josh Brown (14 Ross Lamb, 77), 4 Ryan Batchford, 5 Ben Mason, 6 Pearce Clark, 7 Stuart Latimer (13 Adam Vyse, 85), 8 Sean Jackson, 9 Tyrone Scarlett, 10 Joe Mayer, 11 Andrew Elgar
Substitutes not used 12 Joel Cooper, 15 Daniel Sinnott, 16 Ryan Cooper, 17 Joe Rampling, 18 Dan Elsey, 19 Lee Monk
Waltham Abbey
Aaron Tillbrook, Bradley Pope, Gary Suchley, Carl Spillett, George Hayes, Amin Ibrahim, Stuart Christy, Jack Marrion, Tom Bailey, Jack Barrett, Chris Flanagan (George Mottram, 85)
Substitutes not used Connor Williams, Jordon Ryan, Ashley Hart, Daniel Ladyman, Calum Doyle, George Oake
Referee David Campbell
Assistant Referees Neil Mathieson and Kirk Mason