MAID IN HEAVEN!
Stones roll on in the FA Cup as Oxford City and Wood also win
THREE was the magic number for Non-League sides in the FA Cup yesterday as Maidstone United, Oxford City and Boreham Wood all saw off Football League opponents in a hat-trick of cup shocks.
A Delano Sam-Yorke double and goals from Joe Pigott and Zavon Hines helped Maidstone topple League Two Cheltenham Town 4-2 in a feisty affair at Whaddon Road.
National League South City had Matt Paterson’s effort to thank for dispatching League Two Colchester United, left.
And Boreham Wood completed the treble after coming from behind to beat Blackpool thanks to late goals from Blair Turgott and Dan Holman.
In National League North, two goals from Matty Warburton helped Stockport County,
right, close in on the leaders with a 4-1 win over FC United in front of over 4,000 fans.
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AFEISTY encounter saw Mansfield Town finally break the Shaw Lane resistance and end their FA Cup dreams.
Two fine finishes in four second-half minutes from local boy Danny Rose – who lives just four streets from the Shaw Lane ground – ultimately proved the difference between the sides after Lee Bennett had earlier sent Sheerien Park into raptures by cancelling out Krystian Pearce’s early effort for the Stags.
Home keeper Jon Stewart also kept out a Jacob Mellis penalty to offer the Ducks hope but chairman Craig Wood was still delighted with the efforts of his Northern Premier side against the pre-season favourites of League 2.
“It just wasn’t to be,” Wood accepted. “We got to half-time and you think ‘we’re still in this’. The penalty was saved but fair play to Mansfield. It was a local lad who killed us off with two fine goals.”
Up until Rose’s intervention, the Ducks were well in the tie, but the minnows can have no qualms about the quality of the Barnsley-born lad’s finishing.
His first, on 74 minutes, saw him rise above both Kelvin Lugsden and Ryan Qualter to head over Stewart.
And his second four minutes later was even better – a sublime overhead kick from Alex MacDonald’s cross.
Shaw Lane had earlier been given hope when, on 63 minutes, Mellis appeared to be brought down by Billy Whitehouse but Stewart pulled off a fine save to deny Mellis from the spot.
The Ducks’ dogged first half performance gave the fans reason for optimism, but they had to ride their luck when