Extra time goal ends Grantham Town's FA Cup campaign

FA Cup First Qualifying Round replay

Rugby Town 1

Grantham Town 0 (aet)

By Graham Cowell

There was no replay joy for the Gingerbreads in the FA Cup this time.

A single goal in extra time ended Grantham Town’s involvement in the competition for another season as they struggled to break down a well-organised Rugby Town side on Tuesday night.

“Credit to Rugby, they defended so well,” said Grantham manager Matt Chatfield. “We didn’t really create many chances that were going to hurt them. I’m disappointed that this time we weren’t clinical and didn’t create enough. We have to do more in the final third to win games.”

In the early exchanges, Grantham looked sharp and played a patient game. Rugby sat a bit deeper than they had on Saturday, giving Grantham space to move the ball around in front of them. The Gingerbreads forced a couple of corners but did not threaten Matt Hill in the Rugby goal.

It was the home side who had the first chances. Justin Marsden hit a shot in the ninth minute that Dan Haystead turned away. The same player then had a shot deflected for a corner.

Unlike the first game, the two sides cancelled each other out and there were very few chances, but midway through the first half Grantham could have taken the lead. Jonathan Wafula and Dan Cocks combined well to deliver a cross for Freddie McGrady, but he was just beaten to it by the Rugby defence. Harry Wood sent McGrady away on 24 minutes, but Hill was equal to the striker's effort.

Despite patient work from both sides, the defences were on top for a long period with only half chances for Cocks until early in the second half.

Rugby could have gone in front just before the hour. Haystead had already saved from Madundo Semahimbo when the home side broke on 54 minutes. David Kolodynski played in Drew Kear, but his pass forced him wide and he had to cross instead of shoot.

Wood and Wafula both fired shots wide as Grantham could not get behind the home defence and began to have less time on the ball as Rugby closed them down.

A scrappy passage of play after 65 minutes saw both sides give the ball away and allow a shooting chance for their opponents. But neither Barry Fitzharris for Rugby nor Cocks for Grantham could take advantage of the chances that came their way.

On 72 minutes, Dan Summerfield got a cross in for the home side that found Semahimbo. He stabbed an effort goalwards but saw it come back off the post.

Wafula almost repeated his goalscoring exploits of Saturday. On 75 minutes, he held off the challenge of Lloyd Rocci, but Hill made a good save to his right to keep scores level.

Haystead parried a shot from Alex Lock as the 90 minutes began to draw to a close and the game went into extra time goalless.

Rugby began to look the better team in the first half of extra time. Summerfield had a shot blocked and five minutes into the first period, Haystead had to scramble across his goal to deal with a Fitzharris free kick.

Two minutes before the break, Rugby got what proved to be the decisive goal. Caine Elliott scuffed his shot from 18 yards out and the lack of pace on the effort seemed to deceive Haystead as he went down but did not gather the ball and it squirmed over the line.

Grantham desperately tried to take the tie to penalties in the second half of extra time. They looked more aggressive in their play, but Rugby defended in numbers to keep Grantham out.

Robbie Atkin and Sisa Tuntulwana both had chances to level the game but, under pressure, neither could hit the target.