Match Report by Derek Harlow

Teams

Sporting Khalsa:

1 Sam Arnold 2 Carlo Franco 3 Luke Adams 4 Shawn Boothe 5 Tes Robinson (captain) 6 Alex Perry 7 Rico Taylor 8 Dave Meese 9 Dan Westwood 10 Josh Thomas 11 Lee Chilton
Subs Vidal Hendrikson Jay Holdcroft Mensah Kinch Alex Woodhouse Liam Armstrong

Hucknall Town:

1 Adam Jablonski 2 Ethan Greenwich 3 Cayne Maxwell 4 Jordan Phillips 5 Lenford Jenkins 6 Sam Simms 7 Jamie Crawford 8 Michael Banister (captain) 9 Shane Newton 10 Jack Smith 11 Joe Ashurst
Subs Matt Brian Adam Nelson Montell Gatland Tom Watts Ben Jones

Hucknall's fine unbeaten start to the season came to an end at Step 5 side Sporting Khalsa but the Yellows nearly completed what would have been a miraculous fightback only being denied extra time by the width of the crossbar and a fine save from the home keeper with the last kicks of the game.
Hucknall suffered the loss of regular captain David Leak due to family reasons with Lenford Jenkins playing at central defender. Adam Jablonski returned in goal as expected. Manager Andy Graves elected to start with Smith and Newton up front after their goals last weekend. Joe Ashurst also returned on the wing.
As with last week Hucknall got off to a terrible start. Adam Jablonski made a fine save putting the ball out for a corner. Hucknall failed to clear the corner and the ball fell to Dan Westwood who fired the ball home from the edge of the area. For the remainder of the half Hucknall struggled to come to terms with the 3G pitch constantly overhitting passes and failing to get their usual passing game going. Two talking points arose, once when home keeper Arnold came out of his area to thwart Newton. To those behind the goal it looked like the keeper handled the ball before Newton did the same but those on the side of the ground had the opposite view. Newton was also shown a yellow card. The second talking point was the referee blowing for a late tackle in Hucknall's half but failing to see the advantage of the ball going to Crawford clean through on goal.
Jablonski made another great save on 19 minutes tipping the ball onto the post from Chilton's drive. Hucknall did have half chances with Jenkins heading narrowly wide and Newton dragging a shot just wide but the home keeper wasn't troubled.
Hucknall were getting to grips with the pitch but with three minutes into the interval conceded a really sloppy goal allowing Westwood to roll the ball home for his second.
Hucknall came out for the second half with a hill to climb which very soon became a mountain as from a Hucknall attack the ball was played backwards to half way when a suicidal back pass allowed Westwood to complete his hatrick. At this point most people were talking of how many Khalsa would get but Hucknall upped the tempo and finally played the football they have been playing all season. First Ashurst skyed one from a useful position. Arnold then made a good save from Brian who had replaced Jack Smith with the ball being cleared off the line on the follow up. Khalsa could have got a 4th on 72mins but were thwarted with another fine save from Jablonski.
Jamie Crawford then fired just wide with an angled shot. Andy Graves then brought on Nelson for Newton and this proved to be inspired.
First Nelson was through on goal but Arnold made a good stop.The away support could sense something and were rewarded with what was surely just a consolation on 83 minutes after Crawford broke down the wing before providing an excellent cross which ended up with Nelson slotting the ball home.
The impossible seemed possible when Nelson got a second on 89 minutes latching on to Maxwell's through ball. Khalsa then became happy with running the clock down by taking the ball to the corners. Right at the very end the incredible so very nearly happened. Hucknall broke and a tremendous shot from Sam Simms looked to be heading for the top corner but smacked the bar. The rebound fell to Ashurst who got his shot on target and but for a great save from Arnold would have taken the game into extra time. The referee ending the game after the save.
In the end a very brave effort by Hucknall but they will surely feel frustrated by the goals conceded which in the end just proved to hard to claw back.
Despite the result we wish our hosts all the best in the next round. We enjoyed our day out we didn't lay down and die and I'm sure the fans are very proud of all our lads. Back to the league this Saturday which is after all our number one priority.