Peterborough Sports - The FA Cup dream is over
On Tuesday night we were at PIMs park for the latest instalment of their FA Cup story. We’ve been at each round of FA Cup qualifying with Peterborough Sports, managing to make it to the second round tie with Enfield Town and the third round replay with Royston Town which saw Sports win 1-0 thanks to a late Dan Jarvis winner. The First round proper draw took place on Monday night and for the first time in their history, the Turbines were in the hat for the draw. Ball number 49 was the one to look out for, representing Rushall Olympic or Peterborough Sports. Ball 49 was drawn at home against League Two club and founding football league side Accrington Stanley. This was a favourable tie for both the non-league teams, set to play the replay the following evening, with a home tie against a football league club selected for potential TV coverage. It also represents a tough potential first round game, but not an insurmountable one with Accrington struggling for form in the league so far this season.
A bumper crowd flooded through the turnstiles to watch Peterborough Sports take on Rushall, 621 was the official attendance figure, way higher than the average crowd at PIMs park. You could feel the sense of anticipation from both sets of supporters going into this game, with a place in the first round up for grabs. Rushall Olympic, like the hosts, had also never made it that far in the competition in their history. There were lots of new faces in the crowd, with many Peterborough United fans in attendance to come out and support their non-league brothers.
The first half saw a lot of action, Michael Gyasi was booked for diving following huge shouts for a penalty infront of the terrace that we were stood in. Goalkeeper Paul White suffered a barage of abuse from those fans behind the goal, including a ball being thrown at his head at one point, for which he showed his displeasure. Gyasi would be focus of many key talking points throughout the match, his next involvement came later in the first half as Dion Sembie-Ferris produced an inch perfect ball across the 6 yard box which looked destined for a Gyasi touch to put the ball into the back of the net. Instead, Paul White took the plaudits as he made an outstanding save, flying across his area to position himself perfectly to get in the way of the effort and save what looked like a certain goal.
After the Turbines dominated the first half, the start of the second half was more even with chances coming for both sides. Peter Crook made a good save and Will Van Lier saw his shot go wide after a flurry of corners. Michael Gyasi was at the forefront of controversy again, as he received his second yellow card. The first being for a dive in the first half and the second seemingly for handling the ball and then kicking it away. Whether the second yellow was for handling or the resulting kick is still unclear. Either way, it was a big blow for Sports who still had a decent chunk of the game to play. Despite going down to ten, Sports showed enormous resilience and took the game by the scruff of the neck, pressing for a goal in the latter stages of the game. Despite this, we went to extra time with the game still level.
Extra time saw a second red card of the game, this time for Rushall player Terrell Pennant meaning that it was ten vs ten for the remainder of the match. Paul White, still facing an onslaught of comments from the home fans, pulled off another big save to deny Dion Sembie-Ferris with five minutes left to play. Sports pushed again for a winner, but really lacked the quality infront of goal and wasted chances were a theme of the game.
This meant that after 120 minutes of blood, sweat and tears, the game would be decided by penalties. Peter Crook has a good record of saving spot kicks, and the ball was placed on the penalty spot infront of the goal which all the Peterborough Sports hardcore fan base were stood behind. Advantage Sports, with all the Rushall fans having to watch and cheer on from the other end. Each penalty taker knew what was at stake, tension and anticipation filled the air. All of the first eight penalties were scored, every one of them was well placed and out of the keepers reach. It was Dan Jarvis who took the fifth penalty, the man who had won them the previous tie against Royston. His penalty was saved by Paul White who would end up having the the last laugh, it was a cruel moment for Jarvis who had been one of the stand out players for his side over the 120 minutes. Ethan McLeod was the man to take the deciding fifth penalty for Rushall, he stood up and sent Peter Crook the wrong way, making history for his team. Goalkeeper Paul White gave the Peterborough Sports fans behind the goal as good as they gave before running the length of the pitch to celebrate infront of the ecstatic away fans.
It was heartache for Peterborough Sports, the fans were ready to celebrate making history themselves but this year it was not to be in the end. To see a bumper crowd down at PIMs park was really special and definitely raised the performance levels of the players, especially after going down to ten men. It was a spirited and determined cup run from the lads, and they can take that spirit into the rest of the season. Hopefully, a few of the fans who came for the first time on Tuesday night will be hooked and will decide to become regulars. For Rushall Olympic, they can now look forward to an exciting first round tie against Accrington Stanley which will be played on 2nd November at Dales Lane.
Written by Joe Horne
