Tunbridge Wells (1) 1 Seenan 22
Croydon (0) 1 Henry-Brown 68
Attendance: 255
Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 36/824
Match Report
Croydon arrived at the Culverden Stadium having already established their potential to be the Southern Counties East whipping boys for the coming season with four successive defeats from the start of their League season. But the FA Cup captures the public’s imagination by virtue of its unpredictability and this game was to prove that when the FA Cup comes to town you should expect the unexpected.
A scrappy opening to the game offered little in the way of entertainment for the attendance of 255 with both sides wasting an early chance without threatening the goalkeeper. Tunbridge Wells held sway in terms of possession and, therefore, probably deserved to be ahead in the 22nd minute with a quality strike completely out of context to that which had gone before. Lee Radford threaded a superb pass through to Chris Seenan who cut in from the left hand side and drove a fierce shot between the goalkeeper and his near post.
Tunbridge Wells sought to make the most of the momentum gained from the goal and their right winger Ehis Izokun was proving a constant threat and his pass to Brett Ince brought a good save from the visiting goalkeeper, Francis Ameyaw. After Jason Barton had steered a header wide from a corner, the Wells nearly paid for their wastefulness after 37 minutes in a precursor to a later incident.
A long ball forward saw the Wells’ keeper, Steve Lawrence, advancing beyond his penalty area to head a clearance. Unfortunately his header was not that of a gnarled, old centre back and the ball landed at the feet of a Croydon striker who managed to steer the ball wide of a gaping net.
Croydon opened with second half with a greater threat and Lawrence made a good save to push away to safety a well hit shot and the keeper did well to come out on top once more when he turned another shot from the same player around the post for a corner.
But Lawrence’s luck was about to run out on 67 minutes. A long ball down the right hand side saw the keeper once more advancing from his goal, but this time he lost his bearings and handled the ball just outside his area. This brought about a yellow card and from the resultant free kick, Ashley Henry-Brown drove a curling shot, full of venom, into the far corner. An excellent strike, one that was even appreciated with applause from the home support.
Lawrence, a young goalkeeper still learning his trade, would later take an amount of criticism on social media. My take, as a goalkeeper in my playing days, would be that shot-stopping comes naturally, judgement is something that is learnt over a period of time and time and patience is what the young man needs at present. The management team will have to make the decision on whether they can afford the perceived all-to-frequent blunder whilst he is making the kind of saves that kept the Wells in the game just five minutes earlier.
The game entered its best period as both sides searched for a winning goal. After 76 minutes, Joe Fuller headed against a post and five minutes later Croydon responded when they also struck the woodwork and brought another decent save from Lawrence.
The final throes saw a shot from Tunbridge Wells’ substitute Bryan Bell cleared from line after Ameyaw had saved from another substitute Khalil McFarlane, but a replay on Wednesday was not to be avoided.
A nice windfall of £1,925 is on offer to the winners as well as another step on the road to FA Cup glory.
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