Hear Glenn Pennyfather's post-match reaction by following this link.

Substitute Peter Vincenti’s winner two minutes into injury time cruelly denied the Clarets a place in the hat for the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, but Head Coach Glenn Pennyfather defiantly backed his team and reflected: “I’m proud of the players, the club and the fans who have given everything for us today.”

 

City had grabbed a sensational 26th minute lead through in-form striker Rob Edmans, yet a 62nd-minute Charlie Griffin headed leveller and the sending off of Chelmsford’s Simon Glover shortly afterwards tipped the balance in the Blue Square Premier side’s favour. Glenn added: “It was a bitter pill to swallow with the goal in injury time after we’d worked so hard and played so well as a team. You only had to see how Stevenage celebrated afterwards to tell they knew they’d been in a game.”

 

Pennyfather was disappointed with the dismissal of Glover, who had just returned from a long injury lay-off, though he admits a lapse in attentiveness in the dying stages ultimately cost his side a deserved replay. He explained: “The sending-off nullified us as an attacking force and I felt their equaliser might have firstly been a foul on our Mark Haines in the corner. When five minutes of stoppage time went up on the board at the end we hoped for a replay but we have to learn to concentrate right up until full-time.”

 

Glover had made his first Clarets appearance for a couple of months in the centre of midfield in place of Captain Dave Rainford, who was sidelined through a muscle strain. Steve Ward assumed the skipper’s armband in defence while Ashley Harrison was named in goal ahead of the injured Craig Holloway. They were involved in a competitive but fruitless first 20 minutes which only saw a John Martin free-kick for the Clarets against his former side drop harmlessly into the arms of goalkeeper Chris Day.

 

A bullet drive from Borough centre-half Jon Ashton brought the game back to life on 21 minutes though first blood went to the hosts. A measured Steven Clarke delivery from deep on the right flank was sent forward to Edmans who was free to roam into the penalty box, dribble around Day and coolly slot low into the net. “We were delighted with Rob who took his goal very well,” Pennyfather recalled. “We’ve had a few chances like that recently without success and he did exactly what we told him to do in training.”

 

Some further pressure was applied to the visiting goal on the half-hour mark when Day was nearly caught out from a back-pass though Stevenage finished the half the stronger. A glancing header from Eddie Odhiambo sailed well over but they came much closer on the stroke of half-time when Griffin’s header rapped the upright and was only completely dealt with when Harrison flicked it away with his hand.

 

Almost immediately after the interval a glorious chance presented itself to Chelmsford front-man Antonio Murray when he gained a clear sight of goal on the edge of the penalty box though he shot straight at Day. That proved especially costly in the 62nd minute as a cross was floated from the left over to the far post where Griffin met it perfectly with his head to send it inside the opposite post to equalise.

 

At this point the home dugout will have been deliberating whether to push forward and gain another lead or to secure a replay, though the Head Coach’s mind was made up when a lunge from Glover earned him a straight, 69th-minute red card. “The sending off was a difficult one,” Glenn claimed. “Both Simon’s feet were off the floor but I didn’t agree that he endangered the player. It was a one-footed challenge onto the ball and his other leg caught his opponent and that would have been deemed a good challenge in my day. I was disappointed with the way the Stevenage players harassed the referee and with some of the pre-meditated challenges on Ricky Holmes in the first half where their players weren’t even looking at the ball, but you win some and you lose some.”

 

Right or wrong, the Clarets were left with some serious work to do and, for the majority of the remainder they achieved this. Ollie Berquez was brought off the bench for his first appearance of the season to shore-up the midfield and the Conference high-fliers were restricted until the very end. Another replacement, Mitchell Cole, was quickly involved when he smashed across the face to Griffin, whose reaction touch could only send the ball upwards rather than into an empty net. However, the briefest and most crucial cameo from the bench was that of Vincenti, who was on the pitch for a minute when he arrived in the goalmouth to get on the end Yemi Odubade’s ball from the right to slam home.

 

“We have to remember we competed against one of the top non-league sides in the Country going for Football League status and I’m proud of the players, the club and the fans who have given everything for us today,” Glenn summarised. “They had the lion’s share of the possession but didn’t cause us too many problems. Now we have to take as many positives as we can and work towards consistency in the league. There are some good players here who I love working with and they’re going to get better and better.”

 

Match In Focus

 

City:

 

1 Ashley Harrison

2 Steven Clark

3 Michael Haswell

4 Mark Haines

5 Steve Ward (C)

6 Simon Glover

7 John Martin

8 Anthony Cook

9 Antonio Murray

10 Rob Edmans

11 Ricky Holmes

 

12 Ryan Batchford

14 Ollie Berquez (On for Murray, 70)

15 Danny Hockton

16 Matthew Lock (On for Holmes, 89)

17 Ricky Modeste (On for Edmans, 81)

18 Tyrone Scarlett

19 Lewis Batchford

 

Stevenage Borough: Chris Day, Joel Byrom (David Bridges, 87), Scott Laird, Eddie Odihambo, Jon Ashton (Mitchell Cole, 79), Mark Roberts (C), Andy Drury, Michael Bostwick, Charlie Griffin (Peter Vincenti, 90+1), Ronnie Henry, Yemi Odubade. Substitutes: Ashley Bayes (GK), Mark Albrighton, Stacy Long, Chris Beardsley.

 

Bookings: Stevenage: Ashton (9, foul), Laird (41, dissent).

 

Sent Off: City: Glover (69, serious foul play)

 

Referee: Steve Creighton.

 

Assistant Referees: Robert Allum and Robert Smith.

 

Fourth Official: Martin Peck.

 

Attendance: 1,762.

 

City Man of the Match: Steve Ward.