Christmas cracker in Crusaders' cup win
Hungerford Town progressed to the fourth round of the FA Trophy by the skin of their teeth at the weekend, beating Heybridge Swifts 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in normal time.
The Crusaders hadn’t played since their 1-0 National League South defeat to Tonbridge Angels on December 3 but the Essex outfit’s 3G pitch meant the fixture was never under threat despite the sub-zero overnight conditions.
Hungerford boss Danny Robinson shuffled his pack from that Tonbridge defeat as frontman Dan Roberts, who extended his loan from Dartford in the week, returned following an illness to partner Niko Muir in attack with the Crusaders setting up in their favoured 3-5-2 formation.
It proved a lacklustre first half an hour, the Isthmian League side enjoying the lion’s share of possession as the Crusaders struggled to establish a foothold in the game.
The first real chance fell to the hosts in the 29th minute when prolific forward Ross Wall rose highest and glanced a header just wide of the far post, Hungerford fortunate to still be on level terms.
Four minutes later and Wall had another chance and this time the number nine made no mistake as he went through on goal and slotted his 11th of the season to hand Heybridge a 1-0 lead.
The Crusaders responded well to going behind and were unfortunate not to find an equaliser before the break as Ryan Jones went close but failed to find the target as Hungerford went in a goal down at half time.
The visitors did hit the target 10 minutes after the restart when Callum Willmoth fired a shot on goal, only for his effort to be tipped over the bar by Swifts’ stopper Callum Chafer.
Jake Evans has struggled to recreate last season’s impressive form for Hungerford but his performances in the last couple of months have suggested the attacking midfielder isn’t far away from a return to his best and it was his moment of magic that drew the Crusaders level in the 63rd minute, a spectacular free kick beating Chafer to make it 1-1.
The National League side then went in search of a winner, Robinson introducing Wycombe loanee Christie Ward and switching to a flat back four as Hungerford pressed for a second but the brilliance of Chafer twice denied Muir before full time as the game went to penalties.
Hungerford kept their nerve and produced five perfect spot kicks as Evans, Muir, Roberts, Jones and McGrory all scored while Jed Ward saved from veteran midfielder Lee Noble, the Crusaders winning the shootout 5-3 to make it into the hat for the next round.
