Football: Almondsbury and Yate to meet in FA Cup derby (From Gazette Series)

FA Cup: Almondsbury Town beat Cinderford Town 2-1 and Yate Town beat Alton Town 3-1

5:32pm Sunday 30th August 2009 in Sport

ALMONDSBURY TOWN and Yate Town will meet each other in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round in two week’s time after both sides came from behind to win their respective Preliminary Round ties yesterday.

Sahr Kabba inspired Almondsbury to a 2-1 victory over Zamaretto League Division One South & West side Cinderford Town as he set up two goals in ten second half minutes scored by Simon Heal and Matt Williams.

It may not be considered a major cup upset with Almondsbury flying high in the Hellenic Premier Division table and managerless Cinderford lying at the bottom of the division above, but with several players missing it was an impressive display by Paul Weeks’ side.

Cinderford shaded the first half and took the lead just before half time when Richard Kear’s through ball split open the defence of his former club and Chris Hartland’s shot went under the body of Ben John and into the net from 15 yards.

Almondsbury levelled on 56 minutes when Kane Ingram took a quick free kick and passed to Kabba and the pacy striker ran at the visiting defence before laying off to Heal, who finished neatly into the bottom corner.

Ten minutes later Kabba showed great skill with another dangerous run where he went past three players before passing across to Williams for a tap-in.

Yate were given a scare by Wessex League side Alton Town but secured their passage through to the next round with three second half goals at Lodge Road.

The visitors took the lead on 17 minutes when a cross from the left was headed in by the unmarked Paul Preston at the far post.

It was a different story after the break, and Yate equalised on 57 minutes when Sam Duggan scored from a free kick.

Another set piece led to Yate taking the lead after 75 minutes, as Zayne Simpson’s effort was parried by Dan Hill in the visitors goal for Edd Vahid to score from the rebound.

Yate made the game safe three minutes from time when good work from Duggan allowed Joe White to score from close range.

Almondsbury and Yate meet at Oaklands Park on Saturday, September 12. The Almonds, who are now unbeaten in 19 games, visit title favourites Shortwood United in the Hellenic Premier Division on Tuesday night.

More to follow plus reaction in Thursday's Gazette.