We continue on the Road to Wembley in the FA Cup
Hackett’s men hang on despite Gate challenge
STOURBRIDGE survived a potential cup shock after goals from Kaiman Anderson and Aaron Hayden took them through against a Highgate side from two leagues lower.
And manager Gary Hackett admitted he was now looking forward to seeing if the Glassboys could embark on another cup run having avoided a potential upset.
“The reason the BBC were here and the reason why we’ll be featuring in The
Non-League Paper is because people saw it as a shock because we’ve been fortunate to do it to other people,” the Stourbridge boss said.
“The fans have been used to our fantastic FA Cup adventures and we have to manage that, but the key thing is that once you’ve done it once you have a lot more self-belief.
“This was always going to be a tricky draw – they have players who could easily be playing at a higher level than where they are – but the lads are really pleased and we can look forward to listening to the draw now for the next round.”
Stourbridge dominated the opening period, but failed to make the most of their chances, poor finishing and the giant frame of home keeper Brad Catlow denying them.
On 11 minutes, Luke Benbow volleyed into the side netting after Aaron Hayden had headed the ball into the area and then Hayden put another header the wrong side of the post after Catlow had parried an effort from Robbie Thompson-Brown.
The Glassboys continued to pile on the pressure and Catlow did well to keep out a snap shot from Greg Mills, while Jordaan Brown aimed a tame header at the Highgate shot-stopper.
The pressure finally paid off on 29 minutes when Benbow played a clever ball in behind the home defence and Anderson nipped in to place his shot beyond the hapless Catlow. Benbow had chances to add to the scoreline either side of the interval, only for the giant keeper to deny him.
But when Catlow failed to deal with a Mills corner just before the hour mark, Hayden was on hand to head home.
That finally kick-started the Midland Football League Premier hosts into action and a delightful looping effort from Lei Brown had to be tipped over the bar by Stourbridge keeper James Wren.
It was Robbie Bunn who reduced the arrears on the hour with an excellent freekick curled beyond the reach of the Stourbridge keeper and Marco Adaggio was then denied an equaliser by Wren’s diving save.
A series of changes from both sides seemed to take the sting out of the hosts and solid defending allowed them to book their place in tomorrow’s draw.
Highgate joint manager Paul Smith said that he was happy with the effort put in by his side.
“You can’t ask for too much more from the boys,” the Highgate boss added.
“We’ve gone 2-0 down, but have got back into the game and I don’t know what more we could have done to get something from the contest.
“We earned that chance to perhaps get an equaliser but the bottom line was that they were better than us on today’s performance.”