Braintree Town 7 Eastbourne Borough 0
So Guy Fawkes night and a potentially explosive Emirates FA Cup First Round Proper tie awaited us as Vanarama National side Braintree Town hosted Vanarama National South side Eastbourne Borough at Cressing Road.
The hosts have had a difficult season up till now and sit third bottom in the highest level of non league, the National League, whilst Borough have also had a mixed season in the league below, however the visitors did win at Aldershot Town in the last round which was a shock of sorts, so would of been more than confident of pulling off a result here.
The hosts, who had recently appointed Hakan Hayrettin as manager after previous boss Jamie Day had parted company with the club, are looking to push on after bringing in some new faces. And the new boss got his first win in the last round of the competition when his side came from two goals down to beat Bromley 4-2, so a repeat of this win would of been most welcome.
The visitors knew that if they could hold their opponents out for any length of time, nerves would have surely started to run through the hosts side, but any hopes of doing this evaporated after just four minutes when the hosts got their noses in front as a Michael Cheek header was saved by Lewis Carey, but the ball went straight into the path of Monty Patterson who buried the rebound to give the Irons the perfect start.
Patterson almost had a second when he ran onto a ball inside the area after nine minutes but saw his effort deflected wide, however just a minute later it was two for the hosts as centre half George Elokobi headed home a corner from close range in off the bar and the home side were in dreamland.
A shell shocked Eastbourne tried to get a foothold back in the game moments later but saw a decent effort at goal blocked, and then it got worse for the South Coast side as they fell further behind on 19 minutes as a Oli Muldoon free kick was deflected past keeper Carey and the game was in danger of slipping away from the visitors already as a clinical Braintree side looked like they could run away with it.
And five minutes later the hosts thought they had a fourth as Jake Goodman nodded home,however the flag had gone up for offside to deny what would of possibly been a game sealing moment so early in the contest. However the visitors knew at 3-0 a goal back would change things and just before the half hour mark they possibly should of done when Mark Hughes sent a free header well wide.
The game had been played in a fairly subdued tempo though although on 34 minutes came a flashpoint with some fireworks between Muldoon and Elliott Romain after a coming together following a challenge, but the referee calmed the situation down after a word with both players. The visitors then whipped a free kick to the back post but saw a looping header land on the roof of the net and then down the other end a long throw into the Borough box saw the ball fall to Cheek whose close range effort was blocked.
However thanks to those early strikes the hosts had a more than commanding lead going into the break and the visitors knew they needed a quick goal in the second period to have any chance of a comeback.
Half Time Braintree Town 3 Eastbourne Borough 0
The hosts had the first effort on goal early in the second period as Harry Lee drilled a free kick just over however after this the visitors had their best spell of the contest and dominated the next twenty minutes or so but were unable to test the Town goal, no thanks to some wild shooting from the visitors with a couple clearing the clubhouse behind the goal.
But as poor as the visitors were at finishing in this one the hosts were on fire when it came to taking their chances and on 68 minutes the home side grabbed a fourth goal as after Sim Akinola’s effort had come back off the post, Lee Barnard followed up to score, and then five minutes later the ex-Southend striker thought he had netted again, only to see the linesman flag go up for offside.
He didn’t have wait long for his second though as a minute later Akinola was brought down for a penalty and Barnard stepped up to convert the spot kick and the hosts were now running away with the contest.
With seven minutes to go the hosts made it six as centre half Elokobi bundled home a close range header for his second of the contest and soon after Barnard volleyed a decent effort over bar as he searched for his hat trick, and then with two minutes remaining it was seven heaven for the Irons as Akinola curled home a beauty and Town were going through to the next round in style.
It had been a day to forget for the battered visitors although they can be proud of reaching the stage of the competition, and as for the hosts they will want to bottle this type of result and take it into their league games no doubt as in front of goal today they were very clinical indeed. Town now await the Second Round Proper draw which takes place on Monday evening knowing they are now just one win away from a potential Third Round tie against a Premiership giant perhaps.
Full Time Braintree Town 7 Eastbourne Borough 0 (some photos below)
Here are the First Round Proper results in full:-
Friday 4th November
Millwall 1 Southend United 0
Eastleigh 1 Swindon Town 1
Saturday 5th November
Crawley Town 1 Bristol Rovers 1
Merstham 0 Oxford United 5
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 FC Halifax Town 0
Yeovil Town 2 Solihull Moors 2
Stockport County 2 Woking 4
Dartford 3 Sutton United 6
Walsall 0 Macclesfield Town 1
Port Vale 1 Stevenage 0
Northampton Town 6 Harrow Borough 0
Cambridge United 1 Dover Athletic 1
Westfields 1 Curzon Ashton 1
Milton Keynes Dons 3 Spennymoor Town 2
Gillingham 2 Brackley Town 2
Portsmouth 1 Wycombe Wanderers 2
Bury 2 AFC Wimbledon 2
Mansfield Town 1 Plymouth Argyle 2
Braintree Town 7 Eastbourne Borough 0
Bolton Wanderers 1 Grimsby Town 0
Bradford City 1 Accrington Stanley 2
Oldham Athletic 2 Doncaster Rovers 1
Shrewsbury Town 3 Barnet 0
Whitehawk 1 Stourbridge 1
Colchester United 1 Chesterfield 2
Lincoln City 2 Altrincham 1
Exeter City 1 Luton Town 3
Charlton Athletic 3 Scunthorpe United 1
Cheltenham Town 1 Crewe Alexandra 1
Peterborough United 2 Chesham United 1
Sunday 6th November
Sheffield United 6 Leyton Orient 0
Taunton Town 2 Barrow AFC 2
Alfreton Town 1 Newport County AFC 1
Maidstone United 1 Rochdale AFC 1
St Albans City 3 Carlisle United 5
Boreham Wood 2 Notts County 2
Hartlepool United 3 Stamford AFC 0
Morecambe 1 Coventry City 1
Blackpool 2 Kidderminster Harriers 0
Monday 7th November
Southport 0 Fleetwood Town 0
Monday 14th November
Replay's
Curzon Ashton 3 Westfields 1
Stourbridge 3 Whitehawk 0
Tuesday 15th November
Replay's
FC Halifax Town 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 1
Barrow AFC 2 Taunton Town 1
Fleetwood Town 4 Southport 1 (AET)
Solihull Moors 1 Yeovil Town 1 (AET, Solihull Moors won 4-2 on penalties)
Newport County AFC 4 Alfreton Town 1 (AET)
Rochdale AFC 2 Maidstone United 0
AFC Wimbledon 5 Bury 0
Notts County 2 Boreham Wood 0
Swindon Town 1 Eastleigh 3
Coventry City 2 Morecambe 1
Bristol Rovers 4 Crawley Town 2 (AET)
Crewe Alexandra 1 Cheltenham Town 4
Wednesday 16th November
Replay
Brackley Town 4 Gillingham 3
Thursday 17th November
Replay
Dover Athletic 2 Cambridge United 4
So that concludes the First Round Proper. Forty sides now jostle for the right to join the Premier League and Championship sides in Round Three and I will be at The New Den to see Millwall take on Braintree Town in their Second Round Proper tie so check out that section to see how that went.
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