We made the journey to Bedfordshire expecting to see another classic game versus a very good opponent given the enthralling 2-2 draw last month in the league, however this game failed to hit the heights of that night. We had two debutants starting for us Myles John at left back and Matty Thomson in midfield. After a minutes applause at the start respectfully observed we started off the better of the two sides passing the ball around well and searching for openings but a bad touch or a misplaced pass meant in the final third that we did not trouble their keeper, until a good strike from Lanre brought off a fine save from the home custodian. Josh then ran onto a through ball but just pulled his shot wide. A flurry of corners were wasted by us with not great deliveries and the game lacked a bit of quality. The home side created their best chance of the day just before half time which the centre forward, under huge pressure from Louie, skyed over the bar from 7 yards out. 40 minutes gone and Freddie Brown turns his knee and is replaced by Freddie Stanley.
Half time still 0-0 and although we had the better of it the game was still in the balance.
The second half was not a great improvement on the first half, if anything Potton pushed higher up the pitch and whilst Tiernan did not have a save to make they looked a little more threatening than in the first half, after 60 minutes Shaq replaced Josh, five minutes later Junior replaced Alex and straight away we started getting more crosses into the penalty area but it was a long ball from our keeper that Lanre controlled in the opponents box and set just outside the penalty area for Matty Thomson to stroke the ball home to cap off a strong display in the middle of the park, great finish and 1-0 to The Worms with 70 minutes gone.
Six minutes later another very deep cross was superbly smashed home by Shaq at the back post to put us 2-0 up and heading towards the next round. A bloody nose for Louie in the closing stages after a clash of heads and a late couple of corners for the home side caused a ripple of concern in the dying minutes but overall whilst not a stellar display, a very hard working and committed display to put us through. The whole team defended superbly to come away with a clean sheet and a big shout out to debutants Matty Thomson and Myles John who both had very good games capped off by Matty with his first goal for the club. We will know Monday who we have in the next round. Is it too early to dream of Wembley, probably but you never know #COYW
