Bedworth United 3 Rocester 1

BEDWORTH manager Mark Hallam warned his players to ensure they were not on the end of an FA Cup upset when Rocester visited The Oval on Saturday – and for an hour of this preliminary round tie his fears were well-founded, writes BARRY SMITH.

Rocester more than matched their Southern League opponents during that time, and when Adam Baum fired them ahead with a stunning 48th minute strike it was no more than they deserved. Blake Hogan made ground on the right hand side before delivering a deep cross which was headed clear by Cameron Stuart. Baum, running towards goal and fully 25 yards out, met the clearance with a sweet volley that arrowed its way into the top left corner, leaving home keeper David Clarke grasping at thin air.

Within minutes of Baum’s opener, the Romans could easily have booked their passage through to the next round. Hogan again caused problems on the right side of the penalty area, and as a clutch of Bedworth defenders tried to hack his centre to safety, not one of three Rocester players lurking in front of goal were able to apply a finishing touch.

Two more promising thrusts down the left saw both Karl Payne and then Tom Poole threaten to find the net, and with those missed chances went Rocester’s hopes of a cup shock.

What followed in the final 25 minutes was a near disaster as Rocester completely fell apart. The turning point came in the 66th minute when substitute Jon Douglas met Guy Barnett’s left-wing cross with a powerful header, giving Elliot Richards in the Rocester goal no chance.

The goal appeared to drain the life out of the Rocester players who now seemed resigned to an inevitable defeat.

Leon Doughty and Gilbert Cummins were both guilty of missing gilt-edged chances as Bedworth began to pull Rocester apart.

The crucial second Bedworth goal, which came in the 83rd minute, was something of a gift. Richards and his central defenders all left a harmless looking cross to each other and Doughty stole in between them to loop a header over the stranded keeper into the unguarded net.

Richards quickly made amends for his mistake with two fantastic saves. The first, from Jason Moore’s well-driven penalty, harshly awarded against Simon Carter for handball, was spectacular enough as he flung himself to his right to turn the ball away. But his 85th minute save to deny David Foy was worth the admission money alone. Foy received the ball on the left of the area and unleashed a powerful drive towards the far top corner. Somehow Richards, diving backwards and to his left, managed to get a finger tip to the ball and diverted it onto the bar and away for a corner.

In the final minute referee Milner, who did little to help Rocester’s cause, awarded another controversial penalty for handball after Hogan had the ball blasted at him from close range. This time Doughty took responsibility and rifled it high into the net.

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