Kelly's a cup hero

Chelmsford City 2 Hendon 3

FA Cup second qualifying round

A superb show of grit and determination finally saw Hendon claw their way back from the dead and into the third qualifying round of the AXA-sponsored FA Cup at Billericay on Monday.

Having trailed Chelmsford for over an hour in the first game at Claremont Road on Saturday it took a Tony Kelly goal ten minutes from time to force a replay. And on Monday it was Kelly who capped a memorable Hendon fightback with the decisive goal in a 3-2 win.

The victory earns them a trip to Division Two leaders Harlow Town on Saturday, October 17.

"We're going to score 300 goals this year," said relieved manager Frank Murphy. "But we're probably going to concede 200 too."

Murphy rang the changes after the poor performance in Saturday's 1-1 draw. Out went Jon Daly, Matthew Howard and Matt Maran and in came Freddie Hyatt, Steve Brady and Steve Heard, and all contributed hugely.

City, breaking in a 4-2-4 formation, soon threatened with Christian McCann, menacing in the first encounter, again creating problems down the left. Though John-Simon White was able to keep him more in check, aided by Brady, raids down the left led to both goals.

In the 16th minute, Hendon failed to clear from a corner and Tesfaye Bramble scored with a spectacular shot from 16 yards.

Three minutes later, Hendon's defence was torn apart and when the ball came back into the penalty area, Ian Cambridge shot home.

Hendon were in danger of being overrun, and keeper Gary McCann made the first of three important saves to deny Mark Greatorex after 23 minutes. This proved to be the turning point as, within two minutes, Hendon got back into the match.

Hyatt played a short corner to Heard, who crossed the ball low to the near post where Curtis Warmington reacted quicker than his marker to arrow a volley just inside the post.

Desperate defending prevented further goals for both sides, before Hendon's class was made to tell in the second half.

In the 58th minute, the best move of the match culminated in a superb angled ball by Hyatt to Heard, who skipped past two tackles and slid the ball past keeper James Hollman for the equaliser. From then on there was only going to be one winner.

In the 68th minute, Kelly, whose goal had earned the replay, met a corner from Hyatt with a powerful downward header that bounced into the roof of the net to claim his fourth goal in four consecutive matches.

HENDON: McCann, Brady (Maran 72), Clarke (Howard 26), Hyatt, Bateman, Warmington, White, Heard, Whitmarsh, Kelly, Lewis. Subs not used: Bertelsen, Daly, Gill (gk).

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