Penalties are a cruel way to lose any game of football but, when it’s the semi-final of the Isuzu FA Vase and, a place in the final at Wembley is the prize, it’s very harsh as Congleton Town found out against Newport Pagnell Town.
Having defeated Bury AFC in the same manner in the last round, the Bears would have been confident of doing the same in the last four. However, they did not convert their first three penalties which allowed Newport to return to Wembley to defend the trophy they won last season.
Semi-finals by their nature are tense affairs as neither team wanted to give anything away and, that was the case in the first half an hour of the game as the only bit of action to note was referee Aaron Jackson getting his yellow card out twice- one for Congleton keeper Dave Parton as he brought down Mo Ahmed on the wing after he got past the Bears defence. The other was to Jon Beaumont as he collided with Newport goalkeeper Martin Conway as he went to win an aerial ball on the goal line.
The game’s first chance came on 34 minutes and it went the Bears’ way as some excellent work from Peter Williams saw him play in Dan Needham who forced Conway into a fine save to turn the ball away for a corner. It got even better for Congleton from that set piece as Williams found his manager Richard Duffy unmarked at the back post who thumped his header beyond a crowd of bodies on the line to give his side the lead. At that point, you just wondered if it was going to be Congleton’s year to go all the way to Wembley.
Needham, who scored in the last two rounds of the competition, should have made it 2-0 just five minutes later when he volleyed Jordi Nsaka’s floated ball straight at Conway. Had it gone in, then it really could have been Congleton’s time to go to the national stadium.
However, it gave Newport a sniff at getting back into the game and, they almost took it on 44 minutes when Ben Ford found their top scorer Albie Hall who put his shot wide of Parton’s goal.
Where Hall had failed to find the back of the net, his strike partner Jake Watkinson managed to in first-half injury time as Mackenzie Faulkner misjudged the flight of the ball to allow Ford to get around him before squaring the ball over to Watkinson who fired Newport level.
That goal swung the game in Newport’s favour as they started the second half stronger of the two teams. The best they came was just before the hour mark when Alife Powell saw his header from Ford’s corner scrambled off the line by the Congleton defence.
However, the Swans were ahead on the hour mark when a Ben Shepherd’s cross found Lewis Wilson who set up Ahmed to squeeze the ball beyond Parton to give them a priceless lead.
Despite being behind, it was Congleton who actually looked the more dangerous, they had a chance on 72 minutes when Ethan Hartshorn had a long-range strike but, sadly his effort was straight down Conway’s throat who was able to smother the ball.
The effort was just a warm-up in reality for the young midfielder as just two minutes later he got on the end of a Pope knockdown to smash an unstoppable volley past Conway who could only watch the ball fly past him into the bottom of the goal to draw the Bears level.
From there it looked like if either team was going to win it in normal time, then it was Congleton as they pushed for that third goal. Their best chance came with 12 minutes to go when a pinpoint cross from Williams found Pope at the back post. If there is one player you want in that position then it is the former Port Vale forward, sadly for Congleton, it would drop just agonisingly wide of Conway’s goal.
Newport were happy to hold on for penalties as they have a superb record in FA Vase penalty shootouts over the last two seasons as they have won five of them. Although they had one final chance to win the game when substitute Kieran Barnes raced clear of the Congleton defence. The winger looked destined to score but, Parton once again proved why he is one of the best goalkeepers in the local area as he denied the winger with a fine save.
So with that, the game went to a penalty shootout to decide who would be heading to Wembley in late May. Would it be a first-ever trip for Congleton Town? or would it be a return trip for the Swans?
Where Congleton were faultless from 12 yards out against Bury, they weren’t so good this time around as Thomas Hampton and Peter Williams saw their efforts saved by Conway while Pope clipped the bar.
Meanwhile, Watkinson scored Newport’s first penalty, only for Barnes and Conway to miss their
respective kicks.
Ryan Read did give Congleton some hope as he blasted in his penalty as did Lewis Short to pull them level at 2-2 with Ben Shepherd scoring the visitors’ fourth penalty. It fell to Hall to score the final penalty to send Newport Pagnell Town through.
It’s a harsh way to go out of the competition for Congleton as for large parts of the game they were the better side and, only the lottery of a penalty shootout has beaten them. However, as Richard Duffy said in his post-match interview live on Moorlands Radio that they can be proud of their efforts over the run.
Also, the lads will have to pick themselves up quickly as they are still in two semi-finals and have a chance of claiming some Silverware this season, it’s a rare feat in itself that a Non-League side has reached three semi-finals and, not forgetting that FA Cup run in the first half of the season.
