Stoppage Time Layton screamer sends City through

A Kirk Layton stoppage time screamer sent City into the next round of the FA Cup after coming from 1-0 down in Herefordshire.

With a number of players unavailable for this fixture, Chris Cornes made four changes from the league win over Longlevens. Cam Monteith came back in at right back in place of Logan Stoddart, Dylan Hart returned to the starting eleven replacing the unavailable Izak Reid, and Taylor Randle and Gater came in to midfield for Belmonte and Dinsley.

In a scrappy first half in which the referee brandished seven yellow cards, including one to the City bench, it was Westfields who struck first and had the better of the chances and play. After Isaac Parry made a great save from a Westfields attack, he elected to punch the resulting corner but didn’t quite get enough on it to clear the danger, resulting in Joel Edwards scrambling the ball in from close range on 40 minutes.

More chances rained down on the City goal but they managed to cling on until half time.

Cornes elected not to make any personnel changes at the break but City returned rejuvenated, although they did have goalkeeper Parry to thank for keeping them in the tie with an excellent finger-tip save over the bar from a Harrison Summers strike. City got themselves back into the game on 54 minutes, when Thompson Brown received the ball on the right hand side of the Westfields box and cut towards the byline, and delivered a ball into Dylan Hart who leapt brilliantly to head home, an excellent finish considering the ball seemed to hand in the air for an eternity.

City continued to look the better of the two sides throughout the remainder of the second half. As the game headed into the latter stages and a draw and replay began to look the most likely outcome, manager Cornes made a key substitution, replacing Zaq Hussain with Kirk Layton. This allowed City to move Taylor Randle out to the right wing and play Layton in midfield. In the dying stages of the tie, the ball dropped to Layton on the edge of the box and he struck the ball into the back of the Westfields net, cue pandemonium from the City fans behind the goal.

City managed to see the remainder of the game out and send themselves into the First Qualifying Round, with the tie set to be played on Saturday 2nd September. The draw will take place on Monday afternoon.