Aveley 1, Barking 1

Barking win 5-4 on penalties

AVELEY suffered the heartbreak of bowing out of the FA Cup on penalties this evening (Monday, 13 September) in a tight fought match against a side managed by their former boss Justin Gardner that at times became fractious.

It was a game they might well have won but the footballing gods appeared against them, missing a penalty that would have put them two ahead then conceding a last gasp goal in normal time.

In front of a crowd of 271 the Millers led the first qualifying round replay thanks to Tom Anderson's 12th minute volley when he got on the end of a flick from George Sykes following a corner.

Three minutes later it could have been two when Alex Akrofi was felled in the box but John Nzengo's penalty was saved by James Shaw.

Barking didn't have a significant effort until the 21st minute when Barney Williams' strike came back off a post.

That's how it stayed until half time.

Sixteen minutes into the second half Barking's George Purcell had the ball in the net but the effort was ruled out for offside.

However, the goal that Barking threatened to get several times finally arrived when the visitors grabbed a 90th minute lifeline through Charlie Heatley after an Aveley defensive mishap to set up extra time.

The sides couldn't be separated in the additional thirty minutes, prompting the penalty shootout.

Aveley went first and all the kicks were converted until Aveley's fourth effort was missed - again by Nzengo - and the visitors converted their remaining kicks to go through to a home game against AFC Dunstable on Saturday.

The losers' prizemoney of £750 (added to the £1,444 they picked up for a preliminary round win) will be little consolation for the Millers.