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Victories over Southport; Lancaster; and Kidderminster brought us to a 3rd Round FA Trophy tie against Maidenhead United. It was the first time County had met them, (certainly in competitive action at least). The game was scheduled for York Road. 15 months earlier that would have been a must for me but the intervening period, and health problems had effectively put a stop to much long distance travel. And coming in early February, just 6 weeks or so after I had emerged from a period of house isolation, with an immune system severely compromised, the prospect of of a 400+ mile round trip was simply not something that could be entertained. Listening into the radio I heard Matty Warburton give us an early lead which was cancelled out 12 minutes into the second half, there were no further goals so it was back to EP the following Tuesday.

A cold night at Edgeley wasn’t one which attracted too many punters. There only 1,131 diehards who forsook a warm seat in front of the telly, with but a handful making the trip from Berkshire. It certainly provided one of those games which can be described as ‘snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!

10 minutes after the break, following a goalless first period, a disastrous back pass from Chris Smalley fell well short of Ben Hinchliffe. Jake Hyde seized on it and put the Magpies into the lead. Four minutes later it got wprse as a cross into the box found Sam Barratt, whose header sneaked into the corner of the net past a despairing Hinchliffe. 2-0 down with half an hour to go.

It stayed that way for a further 20 minutes, and some County fans had made their way to the exits. Amongst them was my good friend Pete Tyldesley, whi later told me he had reached the warmth of his lounge before hearing what had happened! A ball down the left hand side from Scott Duxbury found Darren Stephenson, who advanced into the box, twisted and turned and slotted it into the far corner. On 88 minutes George West replaced Warburton, and he was to have an almost immediate impact. West had been part of the squad for quite a while, (he made 13 appearances mainly from the bench), and this was his moment. With the clock showing exactly 90 minutes gone, a snap shot from the edge of the area took a horrible deflection and found the back of the net. I have little doubt that in the premier League the goals panel would have adjudged it an ‘own goal’ but the record books show that it was his. And so into extra time we went.

Five minutes into the added period good work from Stephenson on the left ended with Duxbury hitting a low cross into the 6 yard box and Jimmy Ball was there to turn it home. The come back was complete, but the action hadn’t yet finished. Harry Winter got unnecessarily involved after a foul given away deep into the County half, and referee Dicicco brandished a yellow card, the second of the night for Winter who had to head for first use of the soap. We held on, and won through. Truly victory from the jaws of defeat. Mr Tyldesley regretted his early exit!!

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Tue	06/02/18	h	Edgeley Park	FA Trophy (Round 3 (Replay))	W	3	2	1,131
Sat	03/08/19	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League (Tier 5)	L	0	1	4,626

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