The Emirates FA Cup first round left plenty of drama for late on Wednesday as both Tranmere and Ipswich Town scraped through with electrifying winners.
With four replays played to close out the first round it was hard to know where there was more drama, as Tranmere overcame Wycombe 2-1 in extra time while over at Lincoln City Ipswich won their first game in the competition in almost 10 years with a 1-0 win – Alan Judge getting their winner deep into injury time.
At Wycombe the drama started in the first half as Tranmere’s Kane Wilson was shown red on 41 minutes, Anthony Stewart duly put the hosts ahead but Morgan Ferrier equalised in the second half – it was left to Kieron Morris to send Rovers through in the 115th minute.
In the two other ties Walsall were given a real fright at Darlington but edged through 1-0 thanks to Caolan Lavery’s 68th minute header, while Newport beat Grimsby 2-0 with Padraig Amond and Joss Labadie on the scoresheet.
The Spitfires reached back-to-back third rounds in 2016 and 2017, and sealed a home tie with Crewe at the end of November after victory at the Silverlake Stadium.
FA Cup hero Scott Rendell – who made history when his strike helped non-league Luton become the first side to topple Premier League opposition when they beat Norwich 1-0 back in 2013 – opened the scoring with a second-half penalty, before Sam Smart and Reda Johnson wrapped things up.
Elsewhere, AFC Wimbledon – a side with fond memories in the competition – were unable to advance after they fell 2-0 at Doncaster.
Emirates FA Cup
- First Round Replays
- Wednesday 20 November 2019
- By Joe Leavey
Veteran forward James Coppinger opened his side’s account after he broke the offside trap, with Rakish Bingham sealing things with 20 minutes to play.
Burton were the night’s other convincing winners, blitzing past Salford 4-1 as they turned on the after-burners in the second half.
Lucas Akins opened the scoring just before the break after latching onto Oliver Sarkic’s pass, but the hosts were pegged back when Ibou Touray nodded in at the back post just after the break.
David Templeton promptly restored the Brewers’ advantage minutes later, with John Brayford and Sarkic adding gloss to the scoreline.
Bristol Rovers edged past non-league Bromley thanks to an early strike from Jonson Clarke-Harris.
A third-minute effort from the deadly Clarke-Harris set up a South West clash with Plymouth in the second round, but the hosts emerged with heads held high as they gave Rovers a scare, getting the ball in the back of the net on two occasions, but for the referee to pull play back.
Rochdale were another side who were made to sweat as they likewise held onto an early lead to edge past National League side Wrexham.
Paul McShane headed in Rekeil Pyke’s corner for the Dale with just eight minutes on the clock, and did just enough to keep out the Welsh outfit in a second half of rear-guard action.
Hot-shot striker Mo Eisa kept up his rare scoring form as he bagged his 13th of the season in Peterborough’s 2-0 win over Stevenage.
Eisa made no mistake when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area 11 minutes in, with Ricky-Jade Jones adding a late second with virtually the final kick of the game.
Elsewhere, one goal was enough to settle things as Cheltenham edged out Swindon, Exeter beat Cambridge and Gillingham needed extra time to get past Sunderland.
