Fulham in the 3rd round as Robins see off Orient

By Peegs
December 15 2003

Cheltenham Town will play their first ever competetive game away at a Premiership club when they travel to Loftus Road to face Fulham after seeing off Leyton Orient 3-1 in th 2nd Round of the FA Cup.

John Ward went with the same team that battled out a superb 0-0 draw away at Huddersfield last time out and the Robins attacking right midfielder Martin Devaney had an early opportunity, however he could only steer his shot into the side netting.

Orient - who looked dangerous from set pieces all afternoon - created 2 chances from set pieces in the opening 10 minutes of the game, a move involving the highly rated Matthew Lockwood ended with Tom Newey being sent free in the box, however Mike Duff - presented with his Northern Ireland caps before the game along with Grant McCann - made a timely interception as the Orient man was about to shoot, minutes later Orient came within inches of taking a shock lead. Another corner from David Hunt was swung in powefully into the box, former Hull striker Gary Alexander powered a header at goal, however luckily for the Robins captain marvel Mark Yates was on hand to head the ball off of the line and to safety.

The defining moment of the game arrived on the quater hour mark. A ball forward by Mark Yates was headed on by Bob Taylor, Damian Spencer ran on to the flick on and into the box where he collided with 'keeper Glenn Morris, the ball ran loose, Spencer and Morris both went for the ball and the stocky forward went down, the ref adjudged this to be a penalty, moments later he then showed the red card to the somewhat dismayed goalkeeper, video replays show that the penalty was a somewhat dubious decision so Morris could feel a little agrieved to have been shown his marching orders.

Back up 'keeper Lee Harrison was called off the bench to take his place in goal however he could do nothing as Grant McCann stroked the penalty low to his left to send Cheltenham 1-0 up and put one foot into the 3rd Round draw.

It was an entertaining game for the somewhat dissapointing crowd of 3,996 with some pleasing football being produced by both sides. Orient kept on piling forward despite losing a player however it was some good play by Cheltenham that nearly made the scoreline 2-0. A combination of passes between Taylor, McCann and Victory resulted in the ex AFC Bournemouth player laying the ball inside to Finnigan, from 20 yards he tried to curl the ball into the bottom left hand corner, however Harrison somehow got down to his left to divert the ball wide for a corner.

Approaching the half hour mark Mr Warren awarded his second dubious and high profile decision of the day. He adjudged Oreint defender Joseph to have passed the ball back to Harrision and an indirect free kick was given 10 yards out, Oreint dragged back all their players onto the line, Bob Taylor layed the ball back to Grant McCann who smacked a superb shot into the top right hand corner of the net, it was a superb shot by the Northern Ireland International claiming his 8th goal of the season.

As the half time whistle was blown Robins fans were dreaming that Old Trafford or Anfield was 45 minutes away, Orient manager Martin Ling shook his head as match official Mr Warren walked past and into the tunnel.

H/T 2-0

Cheltenham had to be careful in the second half as they knew Orient would be coming out with the attitude that they had nothing to lose. Alexander was unlucky not to trouble the scorers early in the second half as his curling 25 yard effort had Higgs beat, sadly for him he also beat the post as his shot went inches wide.

Ex Lincoln frontman Lee Thorpe had a couple of opportunities to drag his team back into the game, a header from a Lockwood corner sailed wide and then a shot from 20 yards was deflected off target.

However any hopes Leyton Orient had of a comeback were dashed with a breakway goal on the hour. A cross field ball by McCann was met by the stampeding Spencer, he strode towards the touchline, as he met the byline he swung in a pin point cross for Taylor who had the easy task of heading the ball into an empty net to send the Robins comfortably 3 goals up.

Still Orient would not give up and probably scored one of the goals of the round in the 69th minute. Justin Miller played the ball to Lockwood, he struck a shot from the left hand side 25 yards out that rocketed past Higgs and into the top right hand corner of the net.

Bob Taylor thought he had scored his 2nd and the Robins fourth of the afternoon when he followed up a parried shot by the 'keeper, however debatebly the linesman infront of the In2Print stand raised his flag and the goal was chalked off.

Lockwood again showed why in past years team like Spurs have been looking at him with a lobbed shot from 20 yards that Higgs somehow managed to tip over the cross bar.

Orient kept on huffing and puffing and to be fair could feel agreived by the final score of 3-1. The only concern of the afternoon from a Cheltenham point of view was Mike Duff going off injured, John Ward later confirmed Duff Senior had suffered a dead leg and should train during this week.

The Sunday 3rd Round draw saw Fulham and Cheltenham paired up. On reflection we must be happy to be away at a Premiership club and the financial benefits that may bring. However you cant help but feel hard done by that a few balls later Newcastle were drawn and then Liverpool. However we will enjoy are day out at Loftus Road on either the 3rd or the 4th of January. Who knows, it is the FA Cup and anything could happen!

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F/T 3-1

CHELTENHAM TOWN: Higgs, Bird, M.Duff (S.Duff 83), Brough, Victory, McCann, Devaney, Yates, Finnigan, Specner, Taylor (Odejayi 80)

LEYTON ORIENT: Morris, Jospeh, Peters, Zakuani, Lockwood, Purser (Harrison 16), Hunt, Miller, Newey (Ibhere 64), Thorpe, Alexander

Attendance 3,959