LAST-GASP SAVES O’S
JOSH Koroma’s unbeatable strike in extra-time took Leyton Orient into the next round in a terrific game of football.
Bognor were battling hard and were unfortunate not to score in the first half. On 11 minutes Manny Adebowale left it for the superb Calvin Davies who lofted it over the defence to Ibra Sekajja who forced a decent save from Dean Brill.
Davies even clipped the post with a strike on 25 minutes.
Kristian Campbell curled a free-kick only just wide of the goal just before half-time for Bognor in a strong half from the hosts.
Orient really came into the game in the second half.
Macauley Bonne tried his luck twice in the space of minutes, first knocking a shot wide of the far post and then again forcing Dan Lincoln to chest the ball back out.
Richard Gilot was sent off after his second yellow card for Bognor on 59 minutes as Rocks went down to ten men.
Koroma did have the ball in the net following Jake Caprice’s low cross on 72 minutes but it was called offside.
Joe Widdowson also saw his second yellow card and was sent to the stands for Orient on 79 minutes after a late challenge.
But the visitors took the lead on 83 minutes. A right-sided corner fell to Matt Harrold who headed the ball back inside and it was Bonne who nodded in from closerange.
The game wasn’t over yet though as Bognor were working extremely hard and were rewarded on 89 minutes. On the break Jimmy Muitt was on his own and struck the ball with some venom from at least 25 yards – the unstoppable strike flew into the top right corner to steer the game into extra-time.
But despite the Rocks’ efforts, it wasn’t enough. Another fantastic strike from Koroma from outside the box saw Lincoln beaten as the ball whizzed high into the net to send Orient through.
Lincoln pulled out a couple of great stops to deny Koroma on two occasions right at the death to maintain the 2-1 scoreline.
Bognor will feel that they deserved more, but there were certainly positive signs from the hosts who battled hard all game.
Bognor manager Jack Pearce said: “It was an excellent cup-tie. But unfortunately we have lost again at home.
“I couldn’t have asked the players that we have selected to give us more effort.
“The spirit is good. But there is something amazingly wrong at the moment because we can’t turn our efforts into goals.
“We have eight players on our payroll that are out injured. But I thought we gave a good account of ourselves for long periods.” STAR MAN: Calvin Davies (Bognor) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★