You would have forgiven many for believing that this first round match between Premier Division Rayne FC and Second Division Terling Villa would have been something of an easy victory for the premiership outfit, however it became clear from the outset that it was going to be a much tighter affair than the paperwork would suggest.
On a wet, windy, and dismal day conditions certainly played their part in allowing both sides to zip the ball along the greasy surface as well as allowing for intense midfield battles with the rebirth of the now almost extinct sliding tackle.
Manager Woolfenden called for battle, fight, determination, and a good performance to take into next weekends crucial league cup tie with Valley Green, although not even he could have realistically expected the result that should follow in 90 minutes time.
Villa started the brighter, lining up in a 4-5-1 formation with striker Tristan Woolfenden dropping back into midfield alongside Pinky and Perky (The Collins Brothers), with goalscoring machine Alliston lining up on his unfavoured left side, leaving the pacier Ryan Dawson to lead the frontline on his own. Several corners and a few long range efforts in the opening 15 minute spell gave Villa belief, and on 20 minutes should have gone in front, after Scott Collins corner dropped at the front post, Woolfenden tried the acrobatic flick, the Tom Creane somehow managed to mishit wide when it would have been easier to score.
Rayne caused problems of their own and the influential Luke Bearman was often supplying the pacey front two of Mitson and Wicks with some killer passes, which the Villa back four dealt with extremely well.
On half an hour however, the deadlock was broken, with Dawson skipping between two centre halfs to latch onto a through pass and drill past the goalkeeper to give Villa a deserved lead, leaving many punters checking their betting slip with huge nervousness.
Villa should have then doubled their lead on 35, Woolfenden driving to the byline and pulling back for Perky (S.Collins) to sky over from the penalty spot.
On 43 minutes, just before the stroke of half time, Rayne levelled the scoring through Wicks after he beat the offside trap and cooly finished past onrushing goalkeeper, Woolfenden.
HALF TIME
Manager Woolfenden called for his side to take the game by the scruff of the neck. "Who wants this the most" he cried. The answer would shortly follow. On 54 minutes, Skipper Collins stepped up and delivered another superb freekick from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner to restore Terlings lead, before Rayne pulled back only 10 minutes later through Bearman, who followed up on Mitsons freekick which keeper Woolfenden failed to hold onto in greasy conditions.
The match was nearing the death, and with extra time looming Villa pressed for a winner, and with the introductions of Samuels and Ross, there was tough battle right the way through the midfield and the away fans could sense a winner, and on 86 minutes they were sent into delerium when right back Steven Webb bombed forward, and from the corner of the area received the ball in acres of room, with only the keeper to beat. Many would have been forgiven for laying their mortgage on him missing such a guilt edged chance, having not scored a single goal for Terling Villa in his 3 and a half year tenure with the club, but today was the day to break this duck. He shifted the ball out of his feet and finished with a Van Persie-esq drive into the bottom left hand corner to send the away support, and his team mates, into absolute ecstasy! His celebration was even better than the finish, sliding on his knees, bowling over substitue Thomas Creane, before being mobbed by his entire squad when he finally stopped sliding approx 50 yards off of the pitch.
A nervy 5 minutes and backs to the walls job was due, and after 1 minutes of added time was played, referee Saunders called an end to this Giant-Killing cup tie, where away spectators had to be restrained by riot police from entering the field of play to mob their heros, in particular, that man Webb! "i've never scored a goal before, I didn't know where the goal was to be honest, I just ran like Forest to get into the box, stuck my head down and smashed it! When it went in the net I had to think for a second whether i'd put it in the right end! But I soon realised I had, and I just ran and slid like Klinsmann, it's the only celebration I could think of! I think I managed to stop sliding somewhere near Shalford at about 2pm after the game."
When asked about an assualt on a team mate however during the celebrations, Webb added "to be fair, Creaney nearly killed us all with a hammer about three weeks ago, so this was payback!"
Manager Woolfenden was delighted with his team "a year ago I took on a group of lads, low on confidence, not really able to string together a run of performances, let alone victories. A year later, after promition, a cup final, we now sit top of the second division and into the next round of a prestigious cup competition. I'm so chuffed its unbelievable, i've got so much faith and belief in these players. Its a great day for the club."
When asked about Chris Collins recovery from injury, Woolfenden added "listen there were times when I thought it was over for him. He suffered a serious career threatening injury to his pinky finger, we just didn't know how we were going to cope without him. Luckily our fitness team have managed to see him through the rehab stage and he is now back on the pitch and finding his best form again. Our physio's deserve huge credit, along with the medical team the diagnosed his condition.
Next week Terling visit Valley Green in the first round of the league cup, kick off at 10:30am.
