St David’s 2 Terrace Onions 1

St David’s narrowly avoided an upset after scraping past Terrace Onions in an a close-fought FA Cup preliminary round encounter at Lord’s.

Goals either side of the break from Aaron Paynter and Otis Minors had the First Division outfit seemingly in control only for their spirited Corona League opponents to hit back through Stew Foster with a little more than half an hour left.

Onions were given as further boost when St David’s were reduced to ten men after Vance Brown was dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 68th minute. However, despite the numerical disadvantage and late pressure from Onions, St David’s managed to hold on, much to the relief of coach Aaron Lugo.

“It was very much a scare and all credit to Onions, but thankfully we’re through to the next round and that’s all that matters,” Lugo said.

“We have a lot to work on our game and I’ve told the players no matter who we play we have to play our game. I saw none of anything we’ve been working on and so it’s back to the drawing board.

“One positive was the spirit shown to hold out when we were down to ten, but we have to be more disciplined as a team.

“Onions played hard and kept fighting until the very end, but I have to see a lot more from my team going forward from this point.”

It was Onions who started the brighter, with Frankie Markham curling an effort agonisingly wide in the 18th minute before calling Chazz Knights into action ten minutes later to palm away his stinging effort, with Ward firing the rebound from an acute angle narrowly wide.

St David’s were handed the opportunity to break the deadlock, against the run of play, from the penalty spot in the 37th minute after Marcus Proctor was brought down in the area by Bohdan Kudlyk.

Goalkeeper Declan Evans saved Paynter’s initial effort only for the ball to fall kindly for the forward to smash home the rebound.

In the 54th minute St David’s doubled their advantage as a corner from the left eventually found its way to Minors, who took a touch before firing in on the turn.

Onions responded superbly to the setback, reducing the deficit just four minutes later. A superb flowing move down the right ended with Chris Alexander’s driven low cross bundled in by the sliding Foster.

With a little more than 20 minutes remaining St David’s were reduced to ten men when Brown, who was booked in the first half for a rash challenge, had a little too much to say to say to referee Gregory Todd and picked up a second yellow card.

Onions poured forward in search of a deserved equaliser, yet despite Jack Higson and Kudlyk going close in the final ten minutes as well as a last-gasp goalmouth scramble causing panic, St David’s held on to claim victory and a place in the next round.

SCORERS

St David’s: A Paynter 37, O Minors 54

Terrace Onions: S Foster 58

TEAMS

St David’s: (4-5-1): C Knights 7 – Tyrone Burgess 6, V Brown 5, K Butterfield 6, J Jervis 6 – B Furquan 7 (sub: N Russell, 80min), D Laws 6 (sub: Z Scott, 80), Z Minors 7 (sub: D Minors, 70), A Paynter 8 (sub: M Robinson, 61 6), M Proctor 6 – O Minors 7 (sub: T McCallan, 61 6) Substitutes not used: Tayshun Burgess, N Wade-Smith. Booked: Brown. Sent off: Brown (second bookable offence).

Terrace Onions: (4-5-1): D Evans 7 – B Kudlyk 6, J Samardzija 6, J Higson 7, P Saunders 7 (sub: J Marshall, 77) – C Alexander 7, A Foster 6 (sub: R Matherson, 57 6), S Foster 7, K Godfrey 7, J Finnigan 7 (sub: C Birnie, 77), F Markham 7. Substitutes not used: H Kinslow, D Thompson.

Referee: G Todd