City Progress to next round

Cambridge City's season started officially today with their Extra Preliminary FA Cup round tie vs Kirkley & Pakefield. The Lilywhites had most recently played against Canvey Island in their final pre-season friendly, winning 2-0. Kirkley were actually playing in their third competitive fixture of the season as they had already played twice in their Eastern Counties League campaign, losing both their matches played so far.

Referee Cameron Saunders got the match underway, the first FA Cup meeting between the two, and it didn't take long for City to take charge. Solomon Ofori was sent through after just 5 minutes but was crowded out fairly quickly.

With only 7 minutes played, after Ali Njie had his cross blocked, City had the lead. Jack Thompson had expertly whipped in a cross that Ofori nudged towards the goal. The Kirkley defence thought they did enough to clear their lines, but the assistant ruled in City's favour and the goal stood.

The Royals then had a penalty shout turned down and, four minutes later, Samrai Gebrai was fouled and then took the forthcoming free-kick, which, although didn't immediately lead to a chance, Kojo Apenteng was then sent through, which Alex Blowers kept out for the hosts.

After 23 minutes, Kirkley & Pakefield won their own free-kick. The ball was sent in and was cleared very close to the line. Philp then kept out the Kirkley attack again a short time later.

The Lilywhites then had a succession of corners, one of which almost led to a goal. The first one came after Alfie Mason cleared the ball up-field and Apenteng latched onto it and went down on the right which was then defended for the corner. Thompson's cross eventually found Samrai Gebrai, with the striker's shot getting blocked for another corner.

The next one was crossed in a similar way to the cross that lead to the first goal. This time it was Jayden Randell who got his head onto the cross, and if would have been a goal had it not been for Blowers, who tipped the ball onto the crossbar and over for yet another corner.

The final corner of the period saw Ofori try to double his team's lead with an overhead kick, but the spectacular effort was blocked on the line. This came after Mikey Salako and Kirkley captain Ben George were called over by the ref after some pushing and shoving in the 18-yard box.

Kirkley had a couple of chances for an equaliser as they countered, with Baily Phipps giving to Dan Munro, the forward having his shot blocked from going any further.

Then Connor Swann beat Randell and then allowed George to get a shot away, with the no.8 firing over the bar.

With 10 minutes left to play in the first half, Apenteng and Gebrai linked up really nicely with Gebrai curling his shot agonisingly wide of the far post.

Randell had another chance towards the end of the first half when he volleyed straight at the goalkeeper from a promising free-kick.

Jack Hutchingson tried his luck from roughly 35 yards, shooting wildly over the crossbar. This came after a promising attack from Kirkley broke down and was comfortably blocked.

Thompson was doing his bit again and lobbed a dangerous looking ball over to Salako, but the striker's composure disappeared and he attempted to cross to Ofori but the effort was cleared after Blower punched the ball clear.

Just before half-time, a Kirkley free-kick found it's way into the net but the assistant flagged for offside and City kept their 1-0 lead going into half-time.

The second half didn't yield as much action as the first but still entertained the 157 fans who turned out this afternoon.

The first real chance came for the hosts. A free-kick found it's was to Phipps, his cross then came to Munro who headed into Philp's path, the goalkeeper denying the wing-back his chance for an equaliser.

Then came some controversy. As Kirkley had got themselves a corner with 25 minutes left to play, the referee asked three players over, Apenteng and Randell of City and George of Kirkley & Pakefield. After a little deliberation, the referee decided to send off Apenteng with a straight red card, with many of the City faithful not knowing why. George then preceded to head the cross wide.

City kept huffing and puffing towards the end of the match, most of the crosses that they had were too close to Blowers.

Ofori was then put through and was seemingly brought down in the penalty area, but the referee waved away any protests.

With 5 minutes of the 90 left to play, George Smith played through Thomson, Thompson then gave Ofori another chance to try an overhead effort, this time Ofori missed his kick entirely.

Kirkley continued to push for the equaliser but were ultimately unsuccessful as the referee called time to the match, the final score being 1-0 to City.

City march onto the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, away to  Mulbarton Wanderers – ironically the team to beat Kirkley & Pakefield last Tuesday – with the tie taking place on 16^th of August. 

In the immediate future, the Lilywhites start their Isthmian League North campaign at home to Lowestoft Town on the 9^th.

Connor Taylor-Creek