Tuesday, December 13, 2011
A goal two minutes into added time by skipper Josh Jirbandey earned United an unlikely League Cup fourth round victory against Leiston in deepest Suffolk this evening, and with it, a first ever quarter final berth in the competition.
Never mind the lengthy midweek coach journey that began as early as 2.30pm, the U's also overcame the hardly trifling inconvenience of having a squad of only thirteen players for the trip to Victory Road, two of them goalkeepers.
Denied the services of Kenny Pogue, Jamie Crellin and Matt Whitehead, amongst others, against a side pushing for promotion from Division One North, United showed a battling quality sorely lacking at Crawley Down last week, to keep their hosts at bay throughout, on a cold and windy night near the North Sea coast, before Jirbandey's second goal of the season won the game right at the death.
Zac Attwood had gone close to settling the contest moments earlier, only to be denied by Louis Johnson's excellent save, but Lee Carey's resulting corner was helped on by Sean Ray for United's captain to coolly apply the finishing touch, sparking exuberant celebrations amongst the small gathering of travelling supporters.
That was a far cry from the early exchanges, when Leiston, playing with a strong wind at their backs in the first half, created a number of good chances, and the U's had keeper Matt Armstrong-Ford to thank for some fine saves from Rhys Henry and Leon Ottley-Gooch, as they struggled to come to terms with their surroundings.
Billy Medlock and Joe Barham went close at the other end, as United finally found their way into the game, and Ross Sutton drilled an effort narrowly over the bar within thirty seconds of the restart, although his effort provided somewhat false hope that the visitors would derive complete benefit from the conditions turning in their favour.
Armstrong-Ford continued to be the busier of the two keepers however, but both he and Johnson looked set to keep a clean sheet, and force the tie to a penalty shoot-out, when Jirbandey popped up with the decisive strike that earned the U's a home meeting with Bury Town in the last eight next month.
After a break of a fortnight, United return to league action on Saturday with a visit to tenth placed Kingstonian.
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| Leiston | (0) 0 | - | 1 (0) | Hastings United |
| Jirbandey 90+2 |
| Match facts | Efforts on target | Efforts off target | Free kicks conceded | Corners won | Offsides against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leiston | 3 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 |
| Hastings United | 5 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Leiston (4-4-2) | Hastings United (4-3-3) | ||||||
| 1 Louis Johnson | 1 Matt Armstrong-Ford | ||||||
| 2 Blake Saker | 2 Scott Manning | ||||||
| 3 Shane Wardley | 3 Ross Sutton | ||||||
| 4 David Head (c) | 4 Lee Carey  |
||||||
| 5 Joe Jefford | 5 Sean Ray | ||||||
| 6 Neil Calver | 6 Josh Jirbandey (c) | ||||||
| 7 Rhys Henry | 7 Jack Dixon | ||||||
| 8 Gareth Heath | 8 Ryan Thomson | ||||||
| 9 Nathan Stone | 9 Billy Medlock | ||||||
| 10 Leon Ottley-Gooch | 10 Zac Attwood | ||||||
| 11 Pat Brothers | 11 Joe Barham | ||||||
| Substitutes | |||||||
| 12 Lee Norfolk | 12 Sam Willett (for Thomson 84) | ||||||
| 14 Danny Smy (for Calver 63) | GK Harry Stapley | ||||||
| 15 Josh Merrett (for Brothers 79) | |||||||
| 16 Stuart Boardley (for Stone 63) | |||||||
| 17 Mark Goldfinch | |||||||
Attendance: 147
Referee: Tom Nield (Norwich)
Assistants: Richard Pace (Norwich) & David Robinson (Norwich)