Sun Sports v Biggleswade United          15th November 2016              FA Vase 2nd Rd Replay

Part two of the trilogy was played out at the Sun Stadium on Tuesday night for the replay of the second round of the FA Vase

After Saturday’s epic draw after extra time, tonight would mean that one team would go through victorious no matter what as more extra time and dreaded penalties would decide the outcome one way or another.

Sun surprisingly left out top scorers Dom David and Chris Blunden, leaving them on the bench for the latter stages of the game on the bench and it was the Johnson duo again, Kyle and Jack to mix things up a bit up front.

Agyemang looked impressive for United with a shot that had to be palmed away by the Sun keeper Matty Evans in the early minutes

Twenty minutes into the match and United took the lead.

And as on Saturday it came from a set piece. The free kick was pumped into the box and Carles Balboa smashed the ball in from close range..

The Sun kept their heads high and Jamie Speer came close but his effort was thwarted by United keeper Tom Wyant who was quick off his line to crawl Jamie’s attempt away.

The Sun defence again came into their own and worked well together, as they have done for most of this season and being bolstered by Scott Bonner, back from Berkhamsted, as a holding midfielder helped the defence no end.

Around 15 minutes into the second half and George Hobson, with space opening up for him, hit of his trademark long range efforts and this one, from at least 30 yards, looked goal bound all the way. Wyant managed to get a hand to the ball but the strength of the shot eluded him as the ball came down off the crossbar and into the goal.

Still fired up from the goal Hobson then saw the red rage as he cluttered into a United player and then promptly saw the red card that followed.

The Boys in Yellow were down to ten….again.

United were now up for this and saw the third round beckoning to them, but the tired legs of all Sun’s players held fast and the usual resilience that they have shown this season came to the fore.

On came David and Blunden to try to break on the counter as Biggleswade United were bombarding the Sun’s defence relentlessly.

As time went on with the score still tied and as things became more desperate there seemed to be more claims for handball then at an Arsenal match and more dives than Tom Daley!!

A United cross was blocked by Sun right back Damian Cruickshank’s arm and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

The
assistant referee however noticed that the incident happened just outside of the box and after a brief discussion the ref changed his decision and made it a direct free kick instead, much to Sun fan’s relief!

Both United and the Sun had last gasp chances with efforts being cleared off the line in the final minutes of extra time.

With extra time finished it was down to the lottery of penalties to see who would be meeting Hoddesdon Town in the next round.

The first nine penalties were successful, Tom Gibson’s penalty was one that you wouldn’t find out of place at a much higher level as he decided to go for the dramatic and aim for the top corner instead of the usual lower shots that were made.

At 5-4 to the Sun the last United player stepped up to take the kick. Matty Evans, saviour for the Sun from the Premier Cup clash against Hadley was the man of the moment again as he dived to his right and saved the kick to send the Sun through for a historic match on the 3rd December.