Snodland Town’s historic cup run came to a controversial end, following a late disputed penalty winner for Sheppey United in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round tie at the GI Landscapes Stadium.

Report by Jason Stanley

The tie always had the look of a potential upset on paper, with Town flying high in 2nd place in the SCEFL Premier following their morale boosting comeback draw on Tuesday evening in a high-quality encounter with Hollands and Blair.

Whilst visitors Sheppey were floundering in the bottom six of the early Isthmian South-East table.

And so it proved, as the home side had the better of the opening exchanges.
Firstly, Kian Scott came in from the right wing and saw his shot was well saved by Harley Earle in the Ites goal.

Then Harry Hudson’s quick shot from a flick on via a throw-in, went just wide of the left post.

A couple of minutes later, it was Ben Fitchett who got his head to a Connor Dymond flick on from an attacking free-kick. But his effort looped harmlessly over the bar.

It wasn’t until mid-way through the opening half that Sheppey gained their first clear cut effort. To be fair, Danny Leonard should have done better when put through, but he seemed to delay his shot too long, allowing his namesake Frankie Leonard in the Town goal time to come out and block the attempt.

As the half drew to a close, Town wide-man, Nathaniel Olawale, a constant threat on the left-wing all afternoon with his twinkle-toed runs, dribbled his way through the defence only to shoot high and wide.

Right on half-time, Kaelem Sobhee-Turner found himself with some space on the edge of the home penalty box, but he shot wide right. Then straight up the other end with the last kick of the half, Scott shot from distance, but only succeeded in warming the gloves of the Sheppey keeper.

The second half was a definite slow burner to start with, but still with Snodland in the ascendancy. Playing the better football, but just lacking that final killer ball into the danger area to cause the Sheppey defence any major concern.

Their best opening in the in this period came following another fine build up on the left, with the ball into the danger zone finding player-boss Dymond, but he couldn’t control his header which floated over the bar.

Tempers threatened to boil over after some contentious decisions made by referee Mr Yellen. There was a coming together involving Snodland manager Dymond and the Sheppey bench following a foul on Mohammed Dabo. Then Sheppey co-manager George Batten could be seen swinging a left boot at a water bottle holder sending its contents flying in all directions, after a bad challenge on his keeper that went unpunished.

However, it was another disputed decision that ultimately decided the tie. From a Sheppey attack on the left, Dabo ran onto a through ball into the penalty box. A challenge came in from Fitchett, who seemed to make clear contact with the ball. His momentum from this challenge put him in the direct path of Dabo’s run, catching the forward after the ball was cleared.

But enough for Mr Yellin to have no hesitation at pointing to the spot, much to the home side’s disbelief.

It was left to forward Mikey Salako to confidently step up and calmly place to spot kick into the back of the net.

Snodland upped the tempo in the final ten minutes in a gallant effort to gain an equaliser.

Olawole shot over following another fine build up on the left, then a great cross from the right from Tyler Jackson to the far post found substitute Sekou Treore, but he blasted his effort high and wide.

In injury time, Town supporters amongst the impressive 600 plus in attendance thought they had finally got a deserved equaliser. Alas for them, Olawale was penalised for handling the ball into the net from close range following a corner.

Yet it was Sheppey who probably should have doubled their lead deep into added time. D’Jean Spencer outpaced the last defender to find himself one-on-one with Frankie Leonard, but he screwed his shot wide of both the keeper and the far post.

As the referee sounded the final whistle, you could see both the delight and relief on the Batten brothers faces. As they know they’ve been in a battle, and can consider themselves lucky that their charges came away with the victory, and a place in the next round of the FA Cup.

Meanwhile, Snodland boss Connor Dymond should be proud of his side’s performance today. Out-performing their higher ranked opponents for large parts of the match.

Snodland Town – Leonard, Fitchett, Jackson (Brand), Bolarinwa, Akpoefafe, Dymond (Benning), Dunn (Alhassan), Hudson, Shoderu (c) (Shepherd), Scott (Traore), Olawole.

Subs unused – Hodasi, Ottley.

Sheppey United – Earle, Lawrence, Wisson, Ganina, Leonard (c), Clark, Salako, Spencer,  Sobhee-Turner (Skinner), Andrews, Dabo (Mbayo).

Subs unused – Godden, O’Neill, Farr, Cole, Santry.

Attendance – 621

Referee – Mr Yellen.

Pictures supplied by Sophie Barnes.