Well what can we say about that. After much chat about Saturday and a home tie in the 3rd Qualifying Round against Slough awaiting the winner, many a Chippenham fan arrived assuming we would just be that little bit too strong for our friends from Gloucestershire in the replay, and they were right, but my god did we have to work for it. On a rainy night inside Hardenhuish Park, The FA Cup delivered another classic game. 

The early exchanges were very back and forth, in a manner that really summed this cup tie up as a whole over the two games and the games first chance came to Cirencester when Will Christopher ran deep into enemy lines and his shot was tipped behind by Will Henry in what may well be his last performance for the Bluebirds. 

The game sparked into life when Nat Jarvis won the header and the ball fell to Karnell Chambers on the right hand side. The ball in was scrambled to the edge of the box where Luke Haines was waiting to gratefully bury the ball into the roof of the net and give the hosts a 1-0 advantage in the tie. This was exactly what we needed to settle a few nerves,well at least we thought... 

Another fine save in the Cirencester goal by Lewis Clayton denied Karnell Chambers before the ball broke down the left hand side, the ball was put away for a corner which was whipped in towards Ciren's big men in the box. The ball was headed clear but only as far as the kick taker who unforgivably had 5-6 yards in order to drive the ball in low under Parselles attempted block and past Will Henry for 1-1, goal credited to Michael Pook, not sure it was heading in before the deflection Pooky ;)

Chippenham continued to create the majority of clear cut chances, as with the first game we found Cirencester to be very resolute and their goalkeeper to be in fine form. As Chippenham continued to press, we had back to back shots cleared off the line, albeit the second one with a hand but we will ignore that seeing it was struck at about 90MPH. Going into the half, Chippenham could consider themselves a little unlucky to be level and would be looking for a major response in the second half. 

Game kicked off once again and Chippenham were showing no signs of a side that came out half asleep the Saturday before again creating the early chances with Zebroski going close and Jarvis forcing a save out of Clayton.

The almost inevitable second goal came when the trio of Zebroski, Jarvis and Chambers combined for a wonderful move that left HP applauding all three in equal measure. Zebroski went up for the header and as he quite often does, won the battle and the ball arrived at the feet of Jarvis, he broke past the full back and looked as if he was about to shoot past the on rushing goalkeeper when he casually rolled the ball across the face of goal with perfect weight to deny the centre back, right into the path of Chambers, who's 40 yard sprint to get on the end of the pass, is becoming all to familiar a sight as he continues to improve week on week. 

It seemed at this point we had done enough to fight off the spirited Cirencester squad who spearheaded by CTFC club legend Alan Griffin went desperately in search of a way back into the tie. A few more chances for Chippenham to put the game to bed fell to the feet of Callum Gunner and Karnell Chambers the latter being the better for of the two chances with Clayton again forced into a save, and then it happened. As Cirencester loaded the box with bodies, crosses were being whipped into dangerous areas more and more, the telling blow came as once again the ball was played in from the right, the ball broke into a scramble and again albeit rather scrappy, Cirencester poked home from close range through Jon Dennis to send the Cirencester bench and all of the players mum's and dad's into hysteria down the right hand side of the ground. 

Another excellent chance to win the game came through Karnell as once again Cirencester struggled to cope with Nat Jarvis' pace and power as he chased down the loose ball, it broke it in the box and almost as in slow motion you could see Karnell arriving on the shot, 92nd minute, headlines tomorrow, hero for the evening and unfortunately his shot cannoned back off the window of the Cricket club as the young Chambers slumped in the 18 yard box knowing that miss was sending this tie to EXTRA TIME! 

Walking around the ground at the beginning of Extra Time and the mood seemed rather mixed, personally I thought we would have too much for them again in Extra Time but once again I was stunned by the commitment and fitness of the Cirencester team. First half of Extra Time was relatively quiet right until the end, the moment most Chippenham fans kind of dreaded the most. The ball breaks through the centre, Alan Griffin peels away from his man and suspicions of offside were waved away as he tucked the ball past Will Henry and into the bottom corner. Whilst Griff ran away to celebrate like a maniac in front of the old match day office against the club where he has arguably had his best and most successful times as a player, the referee blew the whistle for half time and the dreaded walk to the other end past all the gloating Cirencester fans was going to happen. Jibes of "So much for two divisions" amongst many others were soon to be revealed as premature. The age old expression "don't count your chickens before they've hatched" must be ringing in the ears of several of the more vocal section of the 20-30 travelling Cirencester faithful, as what happened next, well it was just incredible. 

Half time of Extra Time, finished and Chippenham restart proceedings. Tariq Ossei on as a second half substitute for George Rigg made a brilliant run down the right hand and for the life of me, I didn't see who played it, frankly I couldn't have cared less as I watched Tariq take the ball on the full and smash his volley past Lewis Clayton to level the game at 3-3 sending the Chippenham fans behind the goal into raptures and may have made a few light hearted comments towards a now very quiet section of the Cirencester element of the crowd and for me, I think this is when they knew they were beat and had very little left to give. 

It was back to the tactic of piling men behind the ball and stalling for time as best they could in the hope that their heroic goalkeeper Clayton would get one final hurrah in the tie and it looked for the most part as if that was going to work. Chippenham were themselves very leggy and struggling to break down the Cirencester back line and the game looked certain to go to penalties. 

Then, football showed it can be both an incredible and an incredibly cruel sport at times with a goal that can only go down as a freak. With the game coming to an end and penalties certainly looking likely, Nat Jarvis who ran and ran all night with an intensity of a man with a real point to prove won the ball in a seemingly harmless area on the left hand side and with nothing on, let fly towards goal with an attempt that looked more in hope than anything. As the near perfect Lewis Clayton went up for what everyone thought would be a tip over the bar at best, caught a bad case of the poppadom hands and flapped the effort into the goal and the look on his face mirrored that of Nat who didn't know whether to come and apologise or celebrate! In the end he decided on the latter with the rest of the team rushing over to join him in the spot where no more than 15 minutes ago, Alan Griffin celebrated what he thought was going to be the winner in this tie. 

The game was bought to a close minutes later and Chippenham fans could finally celebrate amid commiseration for the Cirencester support that skulked rather quietly past our troops towards the tunnel. It was another classic FA Cup moment at Hardenhuish Park to rival that of the late drama at home to Maidenhead last year. We now face Slough Town at Hardenhuish Park on 5th October and up for grabs in this one is almost £12,000 and a place in the 4th Qualifying Round, where sadly Chippenham exited the tournament last year. Of course hoping to go one better and reach the 1st Round Proper this year is a big goal and I am confident in our team to get us there however, we first have to contend with Dulwich in the League on Saturday. 

Phenomenal night for all of us Chippenham fans that stayed the course, I am hoping to excitement breeds volume and we see a few more through the gate for Dulwich on Saturday, it's a big game with the 100 years at HP celebration, the book signing and of course former and future Chippenham Town players in attendance at the ground to hopefully create a real good old fashioned buzz about the club once more. Hope to see as many there as possible. 

COYMB
 

Last edited by TheVoice (25/9/2019 1:07 PM)