A heroic display from Paul Hughes’ ten man Hayes & Yeading side saw United earn an FA Cup replay against high flying Poole Town despite playing for 86 minutes with 10 men after the 4th minute dismissal of Keano Robinson, James Clark striking home a deserved 94th minute leveller for United.

Any hope United had of starting on the front foot was put to bed in the fourth minute as Harry Baker ran through towards the United box after a lucky ricochet, Keano Robinson in attempting to win the ball tripped the striker just outside the box and while it appeared defensive cover was coming in, referee Ajibola adjudged he had denied a goalscoring opportunity and issued a straight red card to the United defender.

The resultant free-kick was taken by Josh Carmichael who tried to fire the ball under the wall, who were not fooled, and the ball was cleared to safety as United reorganised with Jacob Cook slotting into an unfamiliar central defensive roll.

United, far from sitting on the defensive, started to push forwards looking to take the sting out of the Dolphins. A short corner worked to Hassan Jalloh on the corner of the box led to a shot across goal from the in-form United goalscorer, this time his effort went wide of the far post. Minutes later a quick break from defence saw Omar Rowe and Ogo Obi combine to give Jalloh another chance, this time from the opposite corner of the box but with sadly the same result, a shot that drifted wide of the far post.

Another chance for the ten men came soon after as Jalloh picked out Toby Little, his first time shot deflecting wide with Dolphins ‘keeper Luke Cairney looking a little worried based on the quick scurry across his goal.

The visitors started to play the ball around using the extra man to their advantage but the United players continued to “work their socks off” to keep in the game. In fact the only real chance in the remainder of the half, while falling to the visitors provided a comfortable save for Jack Smith, the United stopper gathering a 20 yard Jack Dickson effort with little concern, and we went in scoreless at the break.

An injury right on the half-time whistle to Obi saw the United top scorer replaced by Phil Roberts while the visitors made an attacking change of their own at the same time with Jake Cope replacing Ben Gleditsch.

It was Cope who caused United concern just three minutes after the re-start as he received the ball wide on the right, from the bye-line he picking out Baker at the near post but the striker got his feet in a bit of a tangle and Smith was quick to grab the loose ball.

A shot from range from United left-back Jack Williams soon after was easily held by Cairney and then just before the hour mark Jalloh collected the ball near the right hand corner flag and despite two Dolphins being in close attendance, the United man still managed to get his cross in finding Roberts at the far post, the former Wealdstone striker’s header going just too high to trouble Cairney.

Cope was starting to make his mark on the game, firstly he received the ball from Marvin Brooks on the right corner of the box only to hit his drive wide of the far post and within a minute he almost turned provider as he drilled the ball across the United box to Sam Jackson who sliced his shot wide when he really should have done better.

As the game reached the three-quarter mark United created two good chances only to be hit with a sucker punch seconds later as the visitors took the lead. First up for United saw Jalloh swing in a free-kick from the left that Roberts headed goalwards, Cairney doing well to beat the effort away and this was quickly followed by James Clark setting up a shooting chance for Rowe which again Cairney was equal to.

Then came the sucker punch for Paul Hughes side as Carmichael collected a quick throw-in on the right before picking out Cope on the penalty spot and he expertly volleyed the ball beyond Smith and in off the United post to give the visitors the lead.

Two minutes later an audacious Roberts lob from the touchline almost caught Cairney unawares but the ball sailed over the bar while at the other end Jez Bedford pulled the ball back from the right to Cope, his first time effort was well blocked by the United defence with Clark clearing the danger.

Nine minutes remained and the impressive Cope almost had another when he received the ball on the left side of the box, his drive being pushed out by a well positioned Smith with the United defence again finishing the clean up job.

As we keep saying about this United side, they do not know when to give up and in the fourth minute of stoppage time they got a deserved equaliser to take the tie to a replay. A free-kick was played in from the left, a sliced defenders clearance saw the ball drop to Clark, his initial effort that looked to be heading in struck one of his own teammates but as the ball dropped back to Clark he was on hand to smash home his seventh of the season to see United earn the second bite of the cherry that they so deserved after such a hard working performance against adversity (above right).



Report by Kevin Watts.

Photos by Ray Peploe.

United Man of the Match: Jacob Cook.

Print the Teamsheet: Here.

Will Spetch