FA Vase - 1st Round Proper  Saturday 6th October  2007


Newmarket Town (3) - Yaxley (2)  aet

The Jockeys rode their luck as the Cuckoos were unable to repeat their pre season win over the Jockeys, finally bowing out in extra time.

A lively first half saw Chris Lenton head home to give Yaxley an 18th minute lead whilst Ellio Salerno's 40th minute penetrating run into the 18 yard box drew a penalty challenge and Ricky Hailstone converted the resulting spot kick to put the Cuckoos firmly in control. Ian Edge had to retire from the game mid-way through the first half with a very nasty twisted ankle. A scoreline of 5-0 at half time would not have been unjust.

Already short of Mark Paul, the loss of Edge hadn't dampened the Cuckoos hunger as Salerno and Dominic Henson continued to make penetrating runs, creating good chances that just wouldn't go in.

With 15 minutes to go, the Jockeys threw everything forward and looked increasingly dangerous. Had the Cuckoos taken advantage of a stretched home defence and converted the opportunities,  it would have been goodnight Vienna. But it wasn't to be as the Cuckoos missed opportunities at one end and the Jockeys converted at the other, first on the 85th minute and again only sixty seconds later.

In extra time, Clipston was confident that his team would come through but just before the turn around the Home team nicked a goal and sat on it for the rest of the game.

There's no doubt that missed goals cost the Cuckoos success on the day. The upside was the plethora of scoring opportunities created, the downside was the inability to convert them.

The Cuckoos travel to Rothwell Corinthians on Tuesday night - Hinchingbrooke Cup

2007-08

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