Sat 18th August 2007 :FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

The Bloods began their FA Cup campaign against a strong United Counties League side who play in step 5 of the Football Pyramid.  Kingham was the first to test the visitors goalkeeper with a fierce shot from the edge of the box.  A free-kick from bloods captain Butchart then saw Masiah pull off a fine fingertip save to deny Walden.  An Alex Riches cross found Chadwick unmarked, who raced into the box only to fire wide of the post.  

Wootton replied with the impressive Kminda racing into the box to fire home, but his shot was cleared off the line by Newman. Kminda again latched onto a cross to head home, only to see flack clear off the line.
 

Towering defender Flack then showed the strikers how to score with a power header past the Wootton goalie, after some good work by Smith.  1-0 (23 minutes). Daniels found his way through the "walden wall" to shoot but Pledger was on hand to gather the ball.  From the clearance the bloods pressure paid off with a goalmouth scramble, that saw Newman tap in for Walden’s second. 2-0 (36minutes).

Butcharts header sent smith clear, who tried unsuccessfully to lob the advancing Wootton goalkeeper. But concentration was missing in the final minute off the first half and Daniels beat the home defence to fire in past the agile Pledger. 2-1 (45 minutes).

From the restart Wootton were the more determined to score and Daneils tested Pledger with a volley from the edge of the box. From the resulting corner Masticskicwcz found room to shoot only to see Pledger pull off the save of the match.  Daniels again was the danger man with a volley that rattled the cross bar. Vallis replied with some fine dribbling round the defence to shoot but Masiah tipped the shot over the bar to deny Walden a goal.

Chadwick should have increased the score from a perfect cross out of defence but he decided to head wide of the post and the wrong footed goalie.  Masticskicwcz was the hero for Wootten when he volleyed in from the edge of the box to make the scores even. 2-2 (70minutes). 

In the 75th minute Wootton's defender Tom Hole was dismissed for a second yellow card for an off the ball retaliation kick on Chadwick.  The bloods upped the pressure and substitute Danbury's shot was scrambled off the line and a Vallis inswinging corner was well tipped over by Masiah to keep the scores even. 

Walden 

D Pledger, M.Clark, B Newman.(M Danbury), A Riches, P Flack, T Butchart(capt), K Vallis, S Kingham, B Riches(M Clarke), B Smith (R Cannon), R Chadwick
Subs not used – T Gilkes, K Badcock