Page 4 - Yate Town FC v Willand Rovers FA Trophy 301021

It’s not every day that a crowd of over 900 packs out the South West
Interiors Stadium to witness a game of football. And it isn’t every day
that Yate Town reach the First Round of the FA Cup.

Tuesday night’s win against National League Dover Athletic marks
only the second time the Bluebells have appeared at that stage of
football’s oldest cup competition, and the prize is welcoming Yeovil
Town to Lodge Road for a tie that will please Yate fans and
statisticians alike, as it is the first ever fixture in 150 years and over
73,000 matches of the FA Cup that features two teams beginning
with the letter Y.

Paul Michael and his players were rewarded for a gutsy and
determined display, bending but never breaking in the face of Dover
pressure that was particularly strong towards the end of the first half.
An early injury to Nick Rhodes did not disrupt the team’s organisation
and structure, as Liam Angel slotted in seamlessly beside Man of the
Match Andy Lewis.
Credit must also be given to Andy Hannah, who repelled a flurry of
shots from Andy Hessenthaler’s men either side of half time, before
Yate started to grow into the game a bit more.
The manager admitted post-match that the tweaks he tried at half-
time did not work, and so they reverted to their original plan. As they
got a foothold, the bumper crowd cranked up the noise.
With 20 minutes to go, Olly Mehew was taken off in place of James
Harding, who was fresh from having made an impact off the bench
to kill the previous game against Walton Casuals off with his first goal
of the season. Five minutes later, the ball fell to Harding having been
parried away by Whites ‘keeper Adam Parkes – he duly dispatched
and sent the home crowd delirious.

Substitute Angel nearly put the tie beyond doubt with five minutes of
normal time to play, but could only find the crossbar, and the nerves
continued to ratchet up around the ground.
The six minutes added on by referee Gary Parsons did nothing to
ease the tension, and events became almost unbearable when Dover