Sunday, 1 September 2013
Durham County FA Sunday Cup : First Preliminary Round
RCA Grangetown Florists stumbled into the next round of the County Cup with an unconvincing 3-2 win over Hartlepool Diablos.
Forced to play three full backs in midfield due to various withdrawals, RCA Florists began with a very strong wind in their favour and completely dominated the first half, without ever really looking that convincing. However they went into half time with a 2-0 advantage thanks to goals from skippper Phil Hall and a good finish from Mick Wharton.
The second half produced no real dramas until RCA Florists decided to defend a corner in similar fashion to Crystal Palace's first goal against SAFC to concede and allow Disablos back into the contest with 20 minutes left. Another corner produced the equaliser with ten minutes left when the Diablos' centre forward had a simple unchallenged header from six yards.
Extra time was looming until Jason Gargett received a long diagonal ball from right to left and found himself inside the box at an acute angle beyond the far post, but after taking a good first touch he volleyed left footed into the roof of the net to give RCA Florists a fortunate victory.