Penalty heartbreak as Bulls exit the FA Cup

Action from AFC Mansfield (in red) against Stamford on Saturday. Photo by Peter Craggs.

It was a pulsating cup game from the off and both sides were in no mood to lose it. This was borne out by early bookings for both sides.

AFC Mansfield took the lead on 12 minutes. A superb Ryan Wiliams free-kick found Matt Plummer whose effort was palmed away by Sam Donkin in the Stamford goal, but only as far as Ollie Fearon who fired into the roof of the net.

Glyn Cotton tried his luck from 20 yards, his shot covered well by Donkin, and at the other end a neat turn by Jevani Smith was wasted as he blazed his effort over the bar.

Stamford put an immense amount of pressure on the Mansfield goal but could not break them down and the half ended with the home side in front.

But it all went wrong for The Bulls in the second-half.

First Ryan Robbins equalised around the hour mark and then Fearon was sent off for reacting to a late challenge on 65.

It was a good finish from Robbins who controlled a long ball with one touch and then fired past Jason White from just inside the box. Fearon was incensed with the high tackle with studs showing and lashed out in retaliation.

The Bulls though looked just as good with ten men and continued to take the game to Stamford. Captain Chris Timons was unlucky when his header came back off the post from a Jimmy Ghaichem cross.

The referee eventually evened it up by sending off Stamford captain Jordan Smith for an off the ball elbow on Ghaichem. From the resulting free-kick, Gary Bradshaw clipped the bar with a curling effort that had beaten Donkin.

The game looked to be heading for a replay and in fairness both teams deserved another crack at it. But the final say came from a referee that neither side took a shine to.

Ghaichem won a header in his own box and off balance fell on the floor with the ball traveling ten yards away, but as he rolled over to get up Ollie Brown-Hill tripped over his legs and unbelievably the referee pointed to the spot, Brown-Hill doing the honours himself from the spot two minutes before the end and send Stamford through.

As for The Bulls they have the FA Vase to go for and will be looking to get a run going in that, but first it’s Worksop Town visiting The Forest Town Arena next Saturday for what promises to be another entertaining game.