Havant & Waterlooville 4
Oastler 8′, McCarthy 66′, Rendell 82′, Wright 89′
United 2
Johnson 40′, Lolos 44′
Ten-man United bowed out of the FA Cup on Wednesday evening after the home side came from behind in the second half to run out 4-2 victors.
Former Gull Joe Oastler headed home to put the home side ahead in the eighth minute, before two goals in the final five minutes of the first half from Chiori Johnson and Klaidi Lolos saw United lead going into the interval. United continued to press in the second half, however, following the dismissal of Dan Martin in the 73rd minute, two goals in the final ten minutes from Scott Rendell and Tommy Wright secured the hosts a place in the FA Cup First Round Proper.
Gary Johnson named two changes in the starting line-up, Klaidi Lolos and Jake Andrews came in for Johnson and Tom Lapslie respectively.
United were under pressure right from the start, and the game was only 8 minutes old when the hosts took the lead.
Having served warning with a number of dangerous flag-kicks, Billy Clifford’s latest corner found Oastler at the near post, with his header directed perfectly into the opposite corner, leaving Shaun MacDonald with no chance.
That sparked the hosts into dominating the next hour or so, with The Hawks making the most of the monsoon-like conditions to put Johnson’s men under almost non-stop pressure.
As it was though, MacDonald remained relatively untroubled, thanks to some indecision in the Havant attack, and some resolute defending from The Gulls’ backline, with Joe Lewis repelling a number of balls into the box.
Having soaked up a huge amount of pressure – not to mention rain – as the half headed towards the interval, United slowly began to gain a foothold in the game.
On 35 minutes, Armani Little chips the ball in towards the advancing Lolos, however Charlie Searle in between the sticks reacted quickly to gather.
37th minute 1-2 link up between Clifford and Wright, Wright’s shot saved by MacDonald.
Two minutes later, and some neat interplay between Dean Moxey and Little found Andrews on the edge of the box, however the latter who couldn’t quite control the volley, and his effort went over.
United continued to press and in the 40th minute they found themselves level.
Holman broke inside the box before sending in a low and hard shot that Searle could only parry, leaving substitute Johnson, on for O’Connell only shortly before, with the simplest of tasks to slot home from close range.
Pleased to be level following a bumpy start, the Yellow Army were even happier four minutes later.
Moxey, who was venturing forward as any wing-back should, sent in a delicious cross that forced Searle to act, but with Lolos’ flicked boot getting to the ball first, the ball flew into the net to make it 2-1 to Torquay at the break.
Following the restart, United created a spurned a few chances to extend that lead, as they threatened to take charge.
In the 50th minute there was an gilt-edged chance for Little, after Lemonheigh-Evans lobbed the ball into the path of The Gulls’ vice-captain inside the box, however his effort was too high.
Then, two minutes later a United free kick from midway inside the Havant half, was chipped up by Little, before finding head of Lewis, who could only direct the ball wide of the upright.
Those misses were to prove costly minutes later, as the home side wrestled back control by finding the equaliser.
After MacDonald produced a marvellous one-on-one save to deny Wright a leveller, a corner moments later paid dividends once again, as Clifford’s ball found McCarthy in space to fire home a first-time volley to go in off the underside of the bar and make it 2-2 in the 66th minute.
Four minutes later, another smart stop from MacDonald denied Wright, but on 74 minutes, the game took a decisive turn.
With Martin on for the injured Ali Omar, a swift break threatened to catch United out, leaving him with a decision to make, and although his flying challenge was cleared intended to prevent an attack rather than anything malicious, the referee would not be dissuaded, and produced a red-card for the Gulls man.
Sensing their opportunity, Paul Doswell’s men responded by scoring twice in the last ten minutes to kill off Torquay’s FA Cup dreams for another season.
In the 81st minute, former Gull Rendell made the most of Gobern’s free-kick by seizing upon a loose ball to make it 3-2, before Little’s slip in the 89th minute allowed Wright to run in on goal and take the ball past MacDonald to make it 4-2.
A difficult night then, especially for the heroic efforts by the travelling United supporters – there would be no better way to banish this memory than by gaining a positive result against King’s Lynn on Saturday.
Stick with us, Yellow Army – there’s a long way to go yet!
TUFC: 37. Shaun MacDonald, 2. Ben Wynter, 5. Ali Omar (3. Dan Martin 59′), 7. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 10. Armani Little (c), 11. Jake Andrews, 16. Keelan O’Connell (14. Chiori Johnson 23′), 19. Klaidi Lolos, 21. Dean Moxey, 30. Dan Holman, 31. Joe Lewis
SUBS NOT USED: 1. Mark Halstead, 17. Gabby Rogers.
Yellow Cards: Martin 64, Lewis 68′, Andrews 82′
Red Card: Martin 73′
Havant & Waterlooville: 13. Charlie Searle, 2. Joshua Passley, 4. Joe Oastler (c), 6. Sam Magri, 7. Jake McCarthy, 10. Billy Clifford, 14. Joe Newton, 15. Manny Adebowale (9. Alex Wall 63′) (19. Scott Rendell 80′), 18. Oscar Gobern, 20. Tommy Wright (8. Paul Rooney 90′), 21. James Roberts.
SUBS NOT USED: 1. Ross Worner, 5. Michael Green, 11. Abdoulai Baggie, 16. Jamie Collins.
Yellow Card: Roberts 89′