Stafford denied stunning upset as Grimsby survive on penalties
The non-league side led 2-0 and 3-2 but League Two Town won the shootout.
Non-league Stafford Rangers were denied a historic win after losing 3-2 on penalties to Grimsby after they drew 3-3 after extra time in the FA Cup first round.
Two goals from firefighter Darrhyl Mason and one from Aston Villa youth coach Jack Birch got the eighth-tier side – the lowest-ranked team left in the competition and 89 places below League Two Grimsby – to a shootout.
Mason and Birch had put Rangers 2-0 ahead in front of a crowd of 3,130 at the Stan Robinson Stadium as they chased the second round for the first time since 2007.
But set-piece headers inside three minutes from Harvey Rodgers and Maldini Kacurri sent the tie into extra time, where Mason and Geza Turi traded goals.
Home debutant Luca Navarro had to score to send the tie into sudden death but saw his spot-kick saved by Harvey Cartwright to end Rangers’ nine-match Cup marathon.
Grimsby substitutes Andy Cook, Cian Doyle and Justin Amaluzor netted in the shootout, while fellow sub Jamie Walker hit the bar.
Stafford substitute Luke Banks and Kyle Sambor both netted while Birch, Harvey Washington and Navarro were denied.
Stafford took a shock lead after just 130 seconds. Birch put through Mason, who took a touch past Kacurri and lashed an unstoppable rising shot past Grimsby goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright.
Birch made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute, thumping home from a tight angle after Beto Gomes’s shot deflected off Finlay Cartwright and was brilliantly saved by namesake Harvey.
Rodgers halved the deficit when he glanced home Iwan Morgan’s free-kick in the 74th minute and two minutes later, fellow defender Kacurri nodded in another Morgan delivery to make it 2-2.
Mason stabbed home in the 93rd minute after Gomes crossed following a one-two with a suspiciously offside-looking Birch.
Turi made it 3-3 in the second minute of time added on at the end of the first period of extra time, stabbing home after Sonny Finch nodded down a long ball, and it was the Mariners who prevailed on penalties.