Basford United beat Anstey Nomads 5-3 on penalties at Greenwich Avenue after a fiery encounter ended 1-1 to see them through to the next round of the FA Trophy.

The Ambers thought they had won it through Henri Wilder’s goal but Jordan Annable equalised for the Nomads right at the death. Saul Deeney however made sure his side wouldn’t be deterred and was the hero in the shootout to see them advance in the competition.

The visitors applied a lot of early pressure onto the Ambers, flirting around the Basford box for much of the opening minutes but couldn’t test Deeney as the backline held off the early aggression. The Ambers eventually weathered the storm and applied their own pressure onto the visitors but similarly couldn’t produce anything dangerous.

Basford’s best chance came as Prince Mancinelli played in Tyler Dacres with a lovely through ball, with the latter rounding the keeper but a last minute block from the Nomads defender denied him from putting it away.

After another period with not much action, the Ambers saw another huge chance go begging as Ash Chambers and Kane Richards played a lovely one-two before Richards tried to place a shot into the bottom corner, but his effort drifted agonisingly wide. The half ended with neither side able to break the deadlock after a largely uneventful first 45.

Much of the same continued in the second half with neither side able to test the keeper. It looked like James Tague was set to put the Nomads in front as he broke through on goal, but before he could shoot Mancinelli put in a brilliant challenge to deny him. At the other end Richards almost scored again after a scramble but Lewis Gibbens was able to get the ball off the line.

It would prove to be an unfortunate day for Richards as he saw a second yellow after a challenge, bringing the Ambers down to 10 men. They didn’t let the sending off bother them however as shortly after a cross wasn’t dealt with by Conrad Logan in the Nomads net, giving Wilder the chance at the back stick to tap the ball home in the 74th minute.

The action didn’t slow down as the Nomads went the other end and almost levelled it immediately but Matt Thornhill added to the two previous goal line clearances of the game to keep the Ambers in front.

It looked like Basford were seeing the game out comfortably until the Nomads won a corner in the last minute of the game. The ball pinballed in the air before falling to captain Annable who headed it home in the 95th minute to keep them in the game and send it to penalties.
Saul Deeney, who had spearheaded Basford’s previous penalty success during the season, was the hero once again as he saved the first penalty took by the Nomads. Basford remained perfect through all of their spot kicks and Ethan Stewart emphatically put them through to the next round.

STARTING XI: Saul Deeney, Harvey Ridgley, Henri Wilder ©, Prince Mancinelli, Taylor Anderson, Ethan Stewart, Tyler Dacres (Matt Thornhill, 46’), Kacy Milan, Tyrell Waite (Jordan Hallam, 69’), Kane Richards, Ash Chambers (McKeal Abdullah, 78’)

SUBS (not used): Josh Barnes, Luca Burton

ATT: 354

MOTM: Taylor Anderson