Late penalty denies Potton victory as FC Romania steal a point

Potton did well to come away with a point from a game against a strong, fast-running FC Romania side but they led for a long time and felt aggrieved by the penalty award.

On another good playing surface, at Cheshunt FC’s ground, FC started brightly with Williams having a run before seeing his shot saved by James Hoskins.

Charlie Clark saw his shot blocked before a last ditch tackle by Mike Evans prevented Balev shooting.

Potton were coming more into the game now and Toluwalope Ikuyinminu saw his shot blocked after a corner.

Then, following a free-kick to Potton, the ball bobbled about in the six yard box before Mike Evans forced the ball home to give Potton the lead.

From a centre by Ikuyinminu, Evans headed wide, before a period of FC pressure saw Potton allow Danquah to run but he shot high and wide.

Then Warmerdam saw his shot saved by Hoskins, a good move ended with Dabbauk shooting over the goal, then Babbage had a shot just before Dabbauk saw his shot blocked.

Just before half-time Josh Brown played the ball through to Jordan Brown who had a clear run on goal but he blazed the ball over.

FC’s Gyawu-Kyem had an early second-half run but Hoskins saved his shot before Potton saw a header from Evans cleared off the goal line.

Then Horn-Hatnes was in the clear following a corner but shot well over the bar, before Harry Forde, Jordan Brown, Ikuyinmu and Shane Fox all came close to a Potton second.

But the controversy came in the 90th minute. Evans had been involved in a tackle that saw him land outside the field of play. A Potton defender cleared the ball and it hit Evans on the arm while he was on the floor, unable to get out of the way. Initially it looked as though the referee’s assistant had signalled for a corner to FC but the referee appeared to overrule him and awarded FC a penalty.

A lot of ‘argy-bargy’ followed with Jordan Brown being sent to the sin bin for something he must have said to the referee. The penalty was eventually taken and Stylianides made no mistake from the spot to level the scores.

To make matters worse in the third minute of added time Josh Brown received a second yellow card – both for tackles – and so Potton were now down to nine men but held on through 12 minutes of added time.

Next up it’s Dunstable Town at home in the league on Saturday, kick-off 3pm, with Potton currently third in the table.