BORO DREAM OF BIG DRAW!
ELATED Haringey boss Tom Loizou is dreaming of the sound of Pompey chimes after guiding his side to the first-round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history.
Substitute Jorge Sambu and Joel Nouble scored the goals to complete a remarkable second-half turnaround and beat Southern League Poole at Coles Park.
Having missed out at the same stage 12 months ago, Loizou is hoping Borough’s reward will be a money-spinning trip to League One front-runners Portsmouth.
“We are never going to win the cup, so let’s hope the next round is a big financial reward for us,” he said. “You either want a beatable team or a really big one. Portsmouth – how many fans have they got? 29,000 – that will do for me.”
The historic outcome looked unlikely after a dour first half in which both sides looked afraid of losing, but Poole led courtesy of Steve Devlin’s 31st-minute penalty given for Lionel Stone’s rash challenge on substitute Richard Gillespie.
Haringey might have levelled through Joseph Saunton three minutes later, but his close-range effort was scrambled off the line. Loizou admitted it took a verbal earbashing to set his troops on the road to recovery.
“We made two bits of history today,” he said. “First, reaching the first round of the FA Cup for the first time and secondly producing the worst first half I’ve ever seen us play. I lost my voice at half-time with them – I think they must have heard me in the pub over the road.”
His men were a side transformed after the restart. Michael Ademiluyi forced a fingertip save from Luke Cairney before Chinedu McKenzie saw his near-post flick cleared off the line by Corby Moore.
Cairney denied Ademiluyi again when clean through before Poole came within inches of sealing the tie, Gillespie shooting past Valery Pajetat only to see his effort bounce to safety off the post.
Five minutes later Borough were level, Nouble getting to the byline and pulling the ball back for Sambu to poke home.
The same pair combined again for the winner seven minutes from time. Sambu sprung the offside trap and though Cairney parried, the ball ballooned to Nouble at the far post who nodded in from two yards out.
Poole boss Tom Killick admitted his side were second best.
“The shot against the post was he defining moment and I think everyone can see that,” he said. “But we didn’t deserve to win the game today. We were under more pressure than we should have been because we weren’t brave enough or good enough when we had the ball.”