Sat 18th August 2007 :FA Cup First Qualifying Round

Ryman League Maldon Town overcame the might of cup favorites Saffron Walden Town with a 2-1 victory at Catons Lane.

The Bloods sent out an early warning that they were not overawed by higher league opponents and in the first five minutes Ben Riches shot skimmed the crossbar.  On the quarter-hour mark exciting winger Spike Bell showed his worth by dribbling around three defenders but had his shot cleared off the line by defender Oates.

Waldens passing and speed started to break down the Maldon defence and Ben Riches tried to lob the advancing Blues goalie to no avail.  Minutes later Gould pulled off a save to deny Riches a certain goal. Maldon’s long ball play paid off when Lewis collected the ball on the edge of the area and fired in a shot past the outstretched Badcock.0-1 (25minutes.)

In the closing minutes of the first half Ben Riches should have equalized but shot wide of the exposed Gould.

In the second half “The Bloods” continued to push forward and a long throw by Strong onto the head of Barker, who headed into the path of Riches to fire home the equalizer. 1-1 (53 minutes). From the restart Walden were caught napping when the Blues were awarded a disputed free-kick and Cutchey was unmarked on the far post to tap in Maldon’s second goal.  1-2 (54minutes).

Badcock pulled off a fingertip save from a header from Cutchey and Blackwell’s shot was cleared off the line by Bell to deny the visitors a third. A darting run by Bell, whose pace beat the defender and his cross was met by the head of Kingham who headed wide of the post.

Kingham came close minutes later with a darting run into the box to head home, but Gould pulled off the save off the match to deny Walden an equaliser. Maldon replied in the closing minutes when Berquez free quick was well saved by Badcock.

Walden can count themselves unlucky not to come away with the spoils, as their all round performance more than equaled that or their Ryman league opponents.

Team. D.Pledger. M.Clark. M.Barker-(M.Clarke) A.Riches. M.Danbury. T.Butchart-(P.Flack) .S.Bell. S.Kingham. B.Riches. K.Vallis-(R.Cannon). G.Strong.

Subs not used. B.Newman. J.Millichip