Cole 33                                        Sigere 34

Laird 81                                        Farrell 45

 

Substitute Scott Laird saved the blushes for Stevenage Borough as they scraped a replay in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round against Horsham. Borough came back from the dead after leading and then falling behind on the stroke of half time.

 

With only one change from the game against Salisbury, Mitchell Cole started up front with Steve Morison. In a distinctly average performance Borough were wasteful in front of goal compared to a side who put away the majority of their chances.

 

Borough threatened the Horsham goal early on as they tried to break through the defence and Steve Morison saw his shot saved whilst one on one with Paul Seuke. The chances kept coming and Mitchell Cole and Luke Oliver both had efforts but neither as good as the one to come. Cole connected to Andy Drury’s cross but couldn’t get anything on the ball while an impressive tackle stopped John Martins follow up shot.

 

Horsham nearly scored against the run of play after ex-borough forward Jean-Michele Sigere set up Wayne Carney. He looked to have wasted the space but the cross was fine and it was a poor shot that went wide.

 

Morison had two further attempts that flew over the bar until Cole finally broke the deadlock. Oliver’s header found him free on the left and his shot was buried into the bottom corner.

 

The lead lasted all of a minute. Horsham came straight down the other end and Sigere shot low on the right to beat Day. McMahon and Bostwick both had efforts saved as Borough tried to regain the advantage but it was Horsham who got it. Sigere was involved again as he used his strength to hold up the ball and his pass to Lee Farrell led to an easy finish to send the visitors in to the break ahead.

 

Still Borough tried to fight back as Cole shot wide twice and McMahon hit the bar. Borough were denied time and again, with Mark Knee stealing the ball from the direction of Morisons foot.

 

To their credit, Horsham tried to extend their lead with their best effort coming from Jacob Mingle, an effort that was well kept out by Day. With the finishing line in sight, Laird broke Horsham hearts as he found space on the left-hand side, and drilled the ball into the bottom corner. Morison could have won the game in injury time with two efforts. His first was dragged well wide and his second was disappointing as he tried to feed Calum Willock rather than take the shot on. The ball was intercepted and the chance was gone.

 

So Borough face a trip to Horsham on Wednesday evening as they vie for a place in the first round proper of the most prestigious cup competition in English football. It will take a performance much better than this to ensure safe passage to that goal.

 

Stevenage Borough (4-4-2) C Day – L Wilson, M Albrighton, L Oliver, E Anaclet – A Drury (Sub: C Willock, 85), M Bostwick (Sub: A Thomas, 67), J Martin (Sub: S Laird, 75), D McMahon – S Morison, M Cole

Substitutes Not Used: A Bayes, G Mills, R Henry, P Vincenti.

Attendance 1051