Millers bow out of FA Cup

Despite dominating large parts of the game the Millers are out of the FA Cup at the Preliminary Round.

The luck of the draw has definitely been against the Millers in the last few years with AFC Hornchurch (who had just been relegated at the time) followed by AFC Sudbury (who had just been relegated at the time) and now Potters Bar Town, one of two teams who were from the league above. No doubt being the toughest tie in the round, the only toughest we could’ve been given is if it was away.

The game got off to the worst possible start as after 20 seconds we fell behind. No one closed down Dernell Wynter who cut in onto his left foot and found the bottom corner last stand-in keeper Sam Cowler, playing his first game in over eight months. Aveley 0-1 Potters Bar Town.

The Millers reacted well and did control most of possession throughout the game, Chris Bourne go into the box was brought down but a goal kick was given.

We should’ve been back on level terms with two great chances, the first Harry Gibbs headed an inch wide of the left hand post, and the next Garrett Kelly attacked the backpost and headed over the crossbar.

Those chances came back to haunt us as Potters Bar with their second shot scored their second as Bradley Sach pounced on a loose ball to tap in from close range. Aveley 0-2 Potters Bar Town.

We kept working away as it went into the last ten minutes of the first half, Tom Richardson had a smart turn on the edge of the area but his shot lacked the placement and power to get it past the Bar keeper. Andy Freeman almost tapped in from close range after good work from Alex Teniola but the keeper pounced on the loose ball before Andy Freeman could pull one back.

We should’ve had a penalty as we went into the half time break, Sam Cross clearly had his shirt half pulled off his back, but for some reason the lines-woman nor referee could see it, and even though the ball was in the air in the box with the likes of Harry Gibbs, Alex Teniola and Tom Richardson underneath it the referee blew his whistle for half time.

Half Time | Aveley 0-2 Potters Bar Town.

It was an incredibly frustrating second half for the Millers as we tried to gather momentum but it was repeatedly stopped by the use of the word “ref” which echoed around Parkside for a possible record amount of time.

Within 30 seconds on the re-start we almost pulled one back, lovely footwork from Andy Freeman inside the area and cracked his left footed shot in the side netting.

To be fair to Potters Bar you cannot blame them for the way they went about the game, they went down when they could do and took our players out when we were breaking in behind, with the likes of Billy Adcock and Darnell Wynter receiving yellow cards for really bad tackles on Sam Mvemba and Alex Akrofi, thankfully those “over-zealous” tackles didn’t injure our players mentioned above.

Sam Cowler played his part as Potters Bar had a couple of chances on the break in the second half, but Cowler made some fantastic saves, especially a free-kick near the end of the game which kept us within a chance of being back in the game.

The Millers had a few more half chances, Andy Freeman was a pain for Bar as he carved chance after chance but the Potters Bar centre halves cleared everything that was bombed in at them.

Sam Cross put a wonderful ball in front the left hand side of the box towards the back post but on this occasion Tom Richardson was less than an inch from connecting and pulling one back which would’ve helped with a grandstand finish, but it just wasn’t meant to be for the Millers.

Full Time | Aveley 0-2 Potters Bar Town.

Attendance | 154

Millers XI | Sam Cowler, Garrett Kelly, Chris Bourne (Sam Mvemba 70), Harry Gibbs, Sam Cross, James Love, George Doyle (Shad Ngandu 66), Andy Freeman, Tom Richardson, Alex Teniola (Marcus Milner 59), Alex Akrofi.

Unused Subs | Wyan Reid, Ben Sampayo, Daniel Hawkes.

Potters Bar XI | Berkley Laurencin, Jordan Lawal (Chris Doyle 80), Andrew Lomas, Lee O’Leary, James Budden, Steve Brown, Dernell Wynter, Billy Adcock, Bradley Sach (George Nicholas 56), Keegan Cole (Eoin Casey 59), Sandro Costa Dias Fernandes.

Unused Subs | Leonardo De Carvalho Pedro, Daniel Taylor, Charlie Taylor.