Horsham

1-1

Swansea City

Lewis Taylor 83 (pen)

 

Guillen Bauza 40


Second Round Proper
Friday 30 November 2007
Atspeed Stadium, Horsham FC
Winning club receives £24,000
Click here for results
Third Round draw details

Horsham scored a late equaliser to give themselves the chance of drawing one of the giants in The FA Cup after they held League One Swansea 1-1 in their Second Round tie at a sodden Atspeed Stadium.

Lewis Taylor’s penalty seven minutes from time was enough to put John Maggs’ minnows into Sunday’s Third Round draw, where the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal enter the fray.

The game was delayed by a torrential downpour that lasted most of the afternoon, but when it kicked off Horsham made light of the four divisions and 100 league places that separated the Isthmian Premier League side from their opponents, who top League One.

Goalkeeper Paul Seuke was superb all evening as he denied Roberto Martinez’s Swans’ almost single-handedly, making superb stops from Warren Feeney, Andrea Orlandi and Alan Tate within the first 15 minutes.

With Horsham having weathered the storm their more illustrious visitors took the lead five minutes before the break, Spanish forward Guillen Bauza sweeping home impressively after Feeney had cut the ball back to him from the byline.

Despite lacking no little effort the heavy pitch appeared to be taking its’ toll on the non-league side, whose semi-professional players were clearly lacking in fitness compared to their opponentns.

But, shortly after Thomas Butler had hit the bar for Swansea with a superb curling shot, Horsham hauled themselves level.

And it was a true FA Cup fairytale as substitute Lee Farrell, who is deaf and communicates with his team-mates through sign language and lip reading, turned defender Alan Tate, who hauled him to the ground.

It was left to Taylor to smash the penalty past Dorus De Vries, sparking scenes of jubilation, which were repeated when the home side survived five tense minutes of stoppage time to claim a famous draw and a replay that could make them one of the sides to avoid in Sunday’s draw.

Log on to TheFA.com on Sunday afternoon at 3.10pm (GMT) for news of the Third Round draw