Football Soham Town Rangers 4 Grantham Town 1 (aet)
An extra-time salvo saw Soham progress to the next round of the FA Trophy on Tuesday night.
Three goals in extra-time, including a stunning strike by Buster Harradine, ensured Soham Rangers went through after an impressive performance.
Soham took the lead in the 20th minute when Luke Stanley cut inside from the right wing, beating three defenders before shooting low into the bottom right hand corner.
Soham began to dominate in the second half and were unfortunate to not add to their tally.
Grantham, however, made Soham pay for their missed chances, scoring in stoppage time to silence the Soham crowd.
The Lincolnshire side’s celebrations were short-lived as they were reduced to 10 men straight after the goal for foul and abusive language aimed at the Soham technical area.
In extra-time Soham were by far the better side, with substitute Ben Sawyer menacing the Grantham defenders with his pace and skill. And it was Sawyer who created the winning goal, setting up George Darling after he had beaten two defenders in a run from the halfway line.
The goal that secured victory once again came from the work of Sawyer, beating his man before seeing his scuffed shot deflect off a defender but Harradine followed in to score.
Harradine struck the ball first time sending it rocketing into the top corner from 35 yards. Connor Wood added his name to the score sheet after a brilliant cross-field pass from Darling.
Soham manager, Steve Fallon called it a “magnificent performance” and said his team “could have had eight.”
On Harradine’s goal Fallon said: “It would have ended up in Ely if there wasn’t a net.”
Fallon reserved special praise for striker Stanley who picked up an injury and is a doubt for Saturday’s league fixture against Thurrock.
Fallon also commended the impact of Ben Sawyer saying Grantham simply could not handle him.
Soham can now look forward to hosting Evo-Stick Premier Division side, Chorley, in the next round on Saturday, November 2.
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