Saturday 12th November | 3pm | Ashton Stadium | Attendance 129
Woodford Town 2-2 Fakenham Town (Fakenham win 4-3 on pens)

Report by Harrison Nathan
Photos by James Walkinshaw

Despite a spirited and battling performance that saw the Woods level the tie late on In the second half, we bow out of the Isuzu FA Vase with a penalty shootout loss against Fakenham Town.

A strong start to the game saw Woodford have a constant barrage of attacks in the opening stages, however, no clear-cut chances prevailed. With 10 minutes on the clock, the hosts’ early domination paid off! A long throw reached Alejandro Machado in the centre of the penalty area and he glanced the header on and into the far bottom corner to give Woodford the lead…

Despite the attempts from the boys in yellow and blue to find a second goal, they were unsuccessful. The visitors also seemed to be struggling in that sense, as they found it difficult to create clear-cut chances. A laughable attempt at a knuckleball free kick saw the referee calling for a new ball, shortly before they found an equaliser, Robinson latched onto a through ball and slotted it in under Callum McEvoy in the Woodford goal to make it 1-1, 18 minutes after the hosts went ahead.

Fakenham came flying out the blocks at the beginning of the second half and they were rewarded – Robinson added to his tally as he cut in from the wing and curled an effort in off the post, making it 2-1 with 35 minutes left to play. With Woodford still struggling to create many chances, Shane Baptiste turned to his bench and it worked. On came Wale Odedoyin and Dimitri Christou to make an impact and they did just that.

A surge of opportunities followed, however, the final ball or finishing touch was not there for Woodford as they pushed for a late equaliser. The chance came as a Dimitri Christou corner found its way to the back post, where centre-back Alejandro Machado was waiting to put the ball into the back of the net on the half-volley and send the tie penalties!

With three penalty shootout wins already this season, there were plenty of reasons for the Woodford faithful to be hopeful of pulling through and progressing to the 3rd round proper of the FA Vase. Despite Callum McEvoy saving one, misses from substitutes Dimi Christou and Andre Anderson sealed The Woods fate as they were knocked out of the competition in horrible conditions.

WTFC 0-1 FTFC
WTFC 0-1 FTFC – Christou pen saved
WTFC 0-2 FTFC
WTFC 1-2 FTFC – Parrott pen scored
WTFC 1-3 FTFC
WTFC 2-3 FTFC – Phillips pen scored
WTFC 2-4 FTFC
WTFC 3-4 FTFC – Odedoyin pen scored
WTFC 3-4 FTFC – McEvoy saves
WTFC 3-4 FTFC – Anderson pen saved

Woodford Town: McEvoy (GK); McKenzie, Sharpe, Machado, Kiangebeni, Peters (Christou – 76’); Mosuro (Anderson – 54’), Kebi (C); Phillips, Lopes (Odedoyin – 61’), Parrott

Unused substitutes: Haskins, Brown, Kpemou

Fakenham Town: Coombe, Terry, Rasberry, Hogston Wright, Walpole, Robinson, Guyton, Jarvis, Whiteley (Dickson – 77’), Watts (Demunga – 90+2’)

Unused substitutes: Gauntlett, Page, Kerr, Frostick, Blower