Last-gasp goal puts Poppies through
Name on the cup? No, that's probably going a little bit over the top. But Kettering Town must be thinking this might be another special year in the FA Cup.
It's them who are heading to Hartlepool United on Saturday week after Jean-Paul Marna headed in a dramatic winner in the final minute of stoppage-time at the end of extra-time after 120 minutes had failed to produce a goal.
Moses Ashikodi managed to miss two penalties, one in extra-time, and the Poppies missed a host of other openings to finish the job more comfortably than they did.
Redditch United had their chances too and they once again gave Mark Cooper's men a huge fright and will still be wondering how they didn't get the chance to go through courtesy of the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
Kettering came closest to breaking the deadlock in a dull first half as Greg Taylor saw his shot deflected just wide of the post as Mark Hands made a brave block.
The visitors should have taken the lead soon after when Ashikodi arrived unmarked at the far post to get on the end of Exodus Geohaghon's long throw. But the striker's shot was brilliantly saved on the line by Danny Lewis.
Redditch struggled to get into it, although they did come close when Lucan Spittle glanced Asa Charlton's corner over the crossbar.
The Poppies were given the perfect opportunity to open the scoring nine minutes into the second period when Ashikodi was brought down by Charlton.
But the frontman made a real hash of it from 12 yards as he blazed the kick over the bar.
Kettering almost paid the price when Jack Byrne headed over from a good position but things really didn't get any better for Ashikodi.
In the space of three minutes, he fired wide, was booked for deliberate handball and then saw Lewis pull off an excellent stop after he was sent clear on goal.
It was becoming clear, with all these missed chances, that this might just be Redditch's night and they very nearly made it that way when James Dance's shot rebounded off the inside of the post and Lee Harper somehow recovered to save Gary Hay's follow-up.
Extra-time was all pretty uneventful. That was until three minutes into the second period when Ashikodi was hauled down from behind by Spittle. But yet again the striker failed from the spot as he hit the inside of the post.
Again, the miss was almost so costly as Harper had to be at his best to keep out Hay's near-post header.
But then came the drama and, ironically, it was Ashikodi who saw his shot saved and Marna dived in to break the Redditch hearts.
Is it Kettering's year in the FA Cup again? They will certainly have to be better in just over a week if they are to cause another historic upset.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Kettering
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
