Dramatic finale sees AFC Telford United draw in FA Cup tie

A final 20 minutes that exploded into life saw this FA Cup second qualifying round tie swing one way and then the other before ending in a 2-2 draw and a replay in Nottinghamshire.

Louis Moult’s equaliser pegged back a Worksop outfit who must have thought they’d won the tie with their own late goal, but Moult’s determination kept the Bucks in the competition and set up a frantic finale.

Kevin Wilkin had to make one change to his starting XI; with Mal Benning unavailable for family reasons, Charlie Williams started as a makeshift left wing-back, the Bucks clearly keen to retain the 5-3-2 system that brought three successive clean sheets.

The Bucks started brightly, and within three minutes went close to scoring, as Matty Stenson’s faint touch with his head of a ball headed across goal guided the ball wide of Max Dearnley’s left post.

They didn’t have to wait much longer for the opening goal, however; in the ninth minute, pressure on the ball as Worksop tried to play from defence led to a turnover, and when they fed the ball to Stenson, he drove it unerringly under Dearnley from twelve yards.

The Tigers’ Sam Essian was the game’s first booking, for pulling back Bucks’ midfielder Dylan Mitchell.

The hosts remained the more threatening team, and after 18 minutes, Louis Moult came within a whisker of doubling the lead. Found on the left of the penalty area, his deft footwork allowed him to nudge the ball across and unsuspecting Dearnley to his left, missing by inches.

Worksop weren’t passive, and when Oliver Cawthorne’s clearing header on 21 minutes lacked distance, the defender had to smartly block Liam Waldock’s return shot from 15 yards.

The momentum slowly began to shift from then on, and although they didn’t force Brandon Hall into making a meaningful save, the visitors began to shift the play towards Hall’s goal. The Bucks became disjointed, unable to really get out of their half and, just before the interval, the pressure told.

The ball was returned towards the centre, and the Bucks again failed to clear their lines, and referee Brandon Scaife assessed that a Worksop player’s journey to the turf was due to a push in the back. A penalty kick resulted, and Waldock sent the ball low to Hall’s right as Hall went left.

Before the half ended, it could have turned around completely, but Hall watched and pushed away Lewis Whitham’s rising free-kick, aimed to Hall’s left, from the edge of the box.

The second half became a war of attrition between two sides who were well organised and competitive but lacking a real cutting edge.

It took until the 75th minute for the Bucks to really test Dearnley. Stenson had tried an ambitious effort from 45 yards that went wide, but Remi Walker was around 30 yards out a few minutes later when he struck a dipping volley goalwards that Dearnley backpedalled to tip over the crossbar.

Clearly keen to force the issue, the Bucks began to press, with substitute Jordan Cranston eager to contribute. Their eagerness was punished in the 83rd minute when Oliver Cawthorne’s loss of possession and missed tackle allowed Tigers’ sub Kian Harratt to draw two covering defenders and slip the ball inside for Chae Whitman-Brown to find the empty net, Hall sliding out but Whitman-Brown evading him.

An early exit looked on the cards, but within ninety seconds the Bucks were level, when Louis Moult met a cross to the far post and forced the ball in between Dearnley and his left upright.

The Bucks then resumed their late onslaught, and Stenson was left dumbfounded when his run beyond the defence and low effort steered past Dearnley came back to safety off the inside of the left post. Stenson also fired a more difficult chance wide, Cranston whistled one wide from the left edge of the box to Dearnley’s left, and Moult’s acrobatic volley flashed over in injury time.

The chances weren’t taken, and the Bucks will head to Nottinghamshire on Tuesday for a replay.

Attendance: 997.

AFC Telford United (4-3-3): Hall, Curley (Cranston 68’), Williams, Pendley, Lilly, Cawthorne, Fletcher ©, Mitchell (McLintock 90’), Walker, Stenson, Moult.

Subs (unused): Owen, Lambert, Riley.

Cautioned: none.

Worksop Town: Dearnley, Atherton, O’Malley, Menayese, Boyce ©, Essian, Redford, Starcenko, Waldock (Wilde 90+2’), Whitham (Whitman-Brown71’), Viggars (Harratt 79’).

Subs (unused): Render, Wedgbury, Abudh, Tomlinson.

Cautioned: Essian.

Referee: Brandon Scaife.

Assistants: Jacob Widdowson and Simon Gudger.

Fourth Official: Daniel Simmons.