Nottingham United — Sat 11 Dec 2010

Match report

Half time: 1 – 0

After a couple of postponements due to the arctic weather conditions, the thaw permitted Samba to take to the field in a 3rd round FA Cup tie against Nottingham United of the Central Midlands Premier Division. Samba, away from home, were bidding to reach the quarter finals for the second successive year and lined up 3-5-2 on the 3G synthetic pitch. Samba earned a free kick in the early stages and Street took responsibility from 25yds out. The old adage of making sure you hit the target came home to roost, as Street's relatively tame effort was fumbled by the keeper. Brewer was 'johnny on the spot' following in and slamming the ball home from 6yds to give Samba an early lead against their more illustrious opponents. Samba and their fans expected a backlash from the home side but it never materialised with Nicholls completely untroubled for long spells. Samba were occasionally sitting too deep but addressed this and started to play enterprising football on the faultless surface. Gibbons almost threaded G.Taylor and Street through on goal on a number of occasions and when Street did get clear he finished for 2-0 but was denied by the offside flag. The 'officials' were causing Samba the most problems, with the referee dishing out cards to Wilkinson and Gamba, amongst others. As the half wore on, Samba became more dominant and Nottingham United were not a threat, with the back three marshalling the forwards well. Samba looked the classy outfit and were given far too much room to play on a large pitch. At half-time Samba were comfortable in all aspects bar the score line and required another goal at least to reward their dominance.

The second half started and soon the same pattern was established. Samba nearly doubled their lead when a header from a corner was cleared off the line and they went agonisingly close when a few minutes later Boughton looped a header over the stranded keeper. Players and fans alike were waiting for the net to bulge and instead the ball thumped the post and rolled away to safety. When Gibbons curled in a vicious corner which was flicked on and hit the underside of the bar, before drifting away, you wondered whether Samba were ever going to get that elusive second goal. Nottingham United rallied with about 15 minutes to go and were able to fire off some shots at Nicholls, but Samba's keeper had little trouble in dealing with them. Although United were more of a threat at this stage, an equaliser would still represent something of a surprise. However, Samba lived to regret their near misses, as United broke the offside trap and the forward rounded Nicholls before slotting home. At 1-1 and with Samba tiring you sensed the worse. However, it was Samba who came closest to a winner, with Gibbons producing a smart save out of the keeper with an angled drive. With 10 minutes remaining Doughty replaced Gamba and the game went into extra time. Samba manfully stepped up to the task and were positive from the outset in extra time. When Samba won a free kick on the right hand side, Doughty was beckoned to produce an in swinger. Produce he did, as the pace and whip on the cross were pure quality, allowing Street to meet the ball with a thumping header. What happened next was in keeping with Samba's luck, as the ball smashed against the crossbar. The keeper wouldn't have got near it in a month of Sundays, but Samba's luck changed as G.Taylor collected the rebound and restored Samba's lead. It was clearly a pivotal moment in the game and Samba's tails were up. Doughty had another free-kick in a similar and produced a delivery that postman pat would have been proud of, but unfortunately Samba couldn't get their head to this one. In the second half of extra time Samba made sure of their victory, and an impressive one at that, when G.Taylor shot was allowed to slip through the legs of the keeper, who wasn't enjoying his afternoon and Samba marched on to the quarter finals.