YELTZ DOUBLE SEALS REPLAY
HALESOWEN continued their FA Trophy fairy-tale to force a replay against Maidenhead United, twice coming from behind to frustrate the National League side.
Goals from Robbie Bunn and Andrew Parsons cancelled out strikes from Joel Ellul and Josh Smile for the Magpies but the giant killing Yeltz fought back to claim a replay against a side three leagues higher than them.
Maidenhead were in no mood for hanging around and broke the deadlock with little over a minute on the clock through Joel Ellul who headed home Josh Smile’s deep corner.
The goal did little to quell the hosts’ enthusiasm as they looked determined to put on a display for the home faithful.
James Bowen was causing the Magpies’ defence problems with Ashley Sammons’ acrobatic effort restoring parity almost immediately before Montel Gibson tested Chris Dunne with an improvised effort.
But Halesowen showed the resolve that has seen them dump out Gateshead and Bradford Park Avenue in previous rounds.
However, they were made to wait until the 41st minute before levelling the tie up. Montel Gibson cut in from the left side before popping off a pass to Robbie Bunn. He initially had his back to goal but spun and smashed a thumping strike into the top corner.
The Yeltz were hoping to be level at the interval, but Maidenhead had other ideas and struck a hammer blow straight from the kick-off.
They went ahead once again through Josh Smile who was given acres of space, and he duly slotted home low beyond keeper Brendon Bunn.
The fans had barely made it back to their seats after the restart when a Halesowen corner was swung in to the near post for an unmarked Andrew Parsons to power a header home to level the scores again.
Halesowen continued to bridge the gap in the second half as both sides pressed for a third goal in the tie but the introduction of Simeon Cobourne for the Yeltz caused sustained issues for Alan Devonshire’s side.
Cobourne almost provided an assist for Ahmed Ali after 68 minutes, but he could only drag his shot wide.
The final ten minutes saw Maidenhead assert themselves a bit more as they took a stranglehold with a succession of attacks and corners – one of which almost saw Jake Cassidy slam a shot home from Danny Whitehall’s knockdown, but the Yeltz took everything thrown at them to force a replay on Tuesday.