After a poor first-half we were much better in the second and again we had enough chances to win the game but failed to take them.
BEFORE
I’m not usually too interested in the F.A. Cup these days but this year feels different as Regis has made it clear that he’s taking the game seriously and we have a number of players returning from injury who would benefit from some game-time if we manage a bit of a run. I’m sick of the sight of Stoke but the tie must be decided today because there are now no replays at the stage. It may well go to extra-time and penalties just to stretch things out even more. Stoke did well to beat us at the death just after Christmas and revenge must be taken. I was delighted with the signing of Enzo Le Fee as it shows the ambition of the club now and I’m looking forward to seeing some exciting performances from him. Rigg is back in contention for a starting place today and that’s great news while Samed is also available at last so I’ll be interested to see what he’s like. My match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
I got the team-news at 2.15 and there were five changes from the Portsmouth match with Moore, Hjelde, Rigg, Jones and Connolly starting in place of Patto, Mepham, Jobe, Roberts and Isidor. Mepham, Jobe and Isidor were among the subs as was Samed.
THE MATCH
I had a problem with my laptop and couldn’t get the commentary on for the first fifteen minutes or so but I could see that we’d gone behind in the fourth minute after O’Nien was put under pressure and fouled Koumas in the box. Cannon blasted the penalty down the middle and that was that. Our defending had been sloppy to allow Koumas the chance in the first place. As I finally got the commentary on commentator Benno said that we’d hardly been in the game yet and were very flat. Rigg was yellow-carded in the twenty-third for a foul but not long afterwards we won a corner and that got our fans going a bit. It didn’t come to anything, as so often, but soon a great ball from Rigg set up a goal-attempt by Aouchiche. We were then awarded a free-kick for a foul by Seko but Connolly’s chip kick bounced off the wall and the chance was gone. Benno said, “No conviction” and then added that Le Bris must be praying for half-time so he could sort things out, maybe make a couple for changes. He went on to say that Mayenda was looking uncomfortable playing down the flank and needed to be in the middle.
A second Stoke goal was sounding on the cards but an Aouchiche shot in the thirty-seventh wasn’t far from the mark and we needed more like that. The directors box was apparently completely empty. Benno said that it didn’t feel like an F.A. Cup game and Barnesy said that it didn’t feel like anything and we were just not in it. Mayenda managed our first shot on target about five minutes before the break. Rigg nutmegged a defender and was fouled by Koumas winning us a free-kick at the edge of their box. From the kick an O’Nien header went over the bar but at least we were starting to have a few chances. There was only one minute of added-time and it remained 0-1 at the break. Barnes and Benno didn’t think there’d be any subs at the beginning of the second period but we needed an injection of energy from somewhere. Anyway, we were only a goal behind and it was certainly recoverable.
Just after the restart we were lucky not to go two-down but luckily for us Baker put his header wide from a good position. I don’t know how many were at the game but there wasn’t much noise from our fans and Barnesy said that there were lots of big gaps in the crowd. Stoke won their second corner in the fiftieth and we managed to get it clear. Not long before the hour-mark Alese went down injured and was eventually stretchered off to be replaced by Johnson. Hjelde moved to Alese’s slot and Johnson went to the middle of the back four. Aleksic also came on for Rigg while there was a good reception for Gooch when he replaced Stevens. After that lengthy break we managed to equalize in the sixty-fourth when Aouchiche slipped the ball through and Aleksic just got ahead of Gooch to hit it home. Well, that substitution didn’t take long to reap dividends and our fans were in really good voice. That goal gave us a shot in the arm and we started to press forward a lot more.
A great through ball from Neil found Mayenda but he lifted the ball a bit too much and the chance was gone. With twenty minutes to go both sides surely didn’t want extra-time so no doubt they’d be going for the winner. Johansson was down injured for a while so there was going to be a good deal of added-time. Koumas and Cannon went off to be replaced by Bae Jun-Ho and Ennis and then we were off again. Aleksic had a decent header on target but Johansson held it comfortably. Jones was substituted by Salis Samed in the seventy-ninth and there was a good cheer, for both of them probably. Aouchiche managed to wriggle through a couple of defenders and hit a good shot on target and he was immediately back having another go as our fans responded. With five minutes left plus about five more of added-time we had plenty of time to nick the winner. A Connolly effort was blocked by Johansson when he would have done better to pass to Aleksic. Seven minutes of added-time were announced and our fans clearly liked the sound of that. The attendance was announced - 15,744. It remained 1-1 as the whistle went so we were into extra-time.
We still had two more subs to use plus an additional one for extra-time and with Jobe and Isidor on the bench I fancied us to get that winner one way or the other. Stoke got the first period of extra-time kicked off and we were attacking the Roker End. We were exposed early on and conceded a corner and then Gooch hit a powerful shot on target that Moore parried. We broke quickly and Burger was yellow-carded for a blatant foul on Connolly. Burger managed to injure himself in the process and he was replaced by Tezgel. Our first good chance in this period was when Mayenda went on a good run and fed Aouchiche but he hit his effort over the bar. I like Aouchiche but he’s very inconsistent. Connolly also had a good chance to score but his effort went wide. There were two added minutes and we won a corner, only our second of the game, but nothing came of it. It remained 1-1 as the whistle went.
We made another change, bringing on Rusyn for Hjelde with Neil moving to a centre back position. Could Rusyn win some glory before what seems to be his likely departure? Tezgel had a shot on target but Moore held it confidently. We soon made another change with Ogunsuyi replacing Mayenda with about ten minutes to go. Next thing, though, we gave the ball away and Ennis broke towards goal before slotting the ball past Moore and it was 1-2. With about three minutes to go we won a corner, not that I should get excited about that, and Gooch cleared it. We won another corner with a minute left and Samed had a header but the flag was up for offside. We won yet another corner and Moore came up for it as the crowd reacted but again nothing resulted from it. 1-2 as Stoke advance to the fourth round and it’s all eyes on the league for us for the remainder of the season.
