Match Report written by Liam Drury
An early goal from Brandon Bak in the second half saw the Seagulls beat Chippenham Town 1-0 in their Emirates FA Cup Third Qualifying Round Replay.
Manager Scott Bartlett made five changes from the 1 – 1 draw in Wiltshire three days earlier, Jordan Bastin, Sam Avery, Keiran Thomas, Marley Rose and Brandon Bak all coming in for Billy Kirkman, Ollie Chamberlain, Jacob Jagger Cane, Reuben Reid & Nick McCootie.
Both sides hit the woodwork inside the opening five minutes, Dylan Kadji’s header back across goal from a deflected Luke Coulson free-kick rattling the bar before Harry Parsons struck the inside of Max Harris’ post down the other end when taking aim with a curling effort from 18 yards.
Luke Coulson saw a strike from 25 yards blocked bravely by a Chippenham foot while Luke Spokes had a shot from inside the area scrambled away off of the line when he got a sight of the target. Harris was then called into action to push away a Luke Haines half-volley from inside the area following a Bluebirds corner.
The rest of the first half fizzled out with both sides maintaining plenty of possession, Rose coming the closest on his debut when he was just unable to reach a clipped pass from Kadji that would have put the young Bristol City loanee through inside the area.
Half-Time: Weston-super-Mare AFC 0 – 0 Chippenham Town
Will Dawes had an opening inside the first 30 seconds of the second period, his pot-shot from 25 yards taking a couple of deflections and being gathered by Harris in the Weston sticks.
The deadlock was to be broken inside the 48th minute, through an excellent free-kick routine by the Seagulls. Coulson’s short free-kick to Rose allowed the winger to clip a delicate cross into the mixer, where Bak was able to rise highest from 12 yards and glance a header past Henry off the post for his second goal of the season.
Chippenham pushed forward immediately to try and find a leveler, Tom Mehew’s inventive backheel flick from a Dawes corner at the back post held by Harris, before a Haines shot from 25 yards was blocked by James Dodd.
Harris made two identical saves to prevent Spokes from bringing the scores level, the Chippenham midfielder seeing two 25-yard efforts pushed behind for corners by the Cheltenham loanee protecting the Weston goal.
Coulson saw a free-kick from an angle blocked by the Chippenham wall, before Weston fans called for a penalty not long after when a Seagulls man appeared to be bundled over from a free-kick delivered by Weston’s No.11.
Haines was just unable to connect with an Alex Bray cross at the back post, before Mehew headed over from a long-throw inside the Weston area as the Seagulls saw the game out to progress in the Emirates FA Cup.
The Seagulls now return to league action on Saturday with a trip to Welling United in the Vanarama National League South.
Full-Time: Weston-super-Mare AFC 1 – 0 Chippenham Town (Bak 48′)
Weston XI: Harris, Thomas, Bastin, Kadji (Chamberlain 82), Pope, Avery, Dodd, Rose (Jagger Cane 64), Coulson (Kempster 88), E Lewis (C), Bak (Reid 64).
Unused substitutes: Absalom, Kirkman, McCootie.
Attendance: 523.
MOTM: Max Harris. An assured performance in between the sticks from Weston’s No.1, commanding the defence well and claiming plenty of crosses to relieve the pressure.
