Bemerton took the lead after 15 minutes when a breakaway attack down the right saw the ball crossed into the middle of the penalty area for a Bemerton player to chest it down to a team mate to shoot past the keeper. Both teams created some good chances in the first half and it was down to both keepers that there were no more goals after 45 minutes. Bideford had a couple of shots that went just wide, a clear one on one chance that the keeper saved and a good penalty shout turned down while Bemerton had a couple of efforts from free kicks that the Bideford keeper seemingly flew across the goal to keep out.
Bemerton edged the first half but the second half was dominated by Bideford who had brought a vocal bunch of supporters up from Devon. They had a goal disallowed after 50 minutes when the ball trickled past the keeper from a corner and might have gone in, only for an offside player to try and make sure and get penalised in the process. Bemerton kept trying to break on the counter and on 75 minutes were again denied by the Bideford keeper who pulled off another stunning save. Andy reckoned that it would take a low daisycutter shot to beat him as anything in the air was not getting past him.
The away support was starting to get frustrated with the number of times their team were getting caught offside but on 80 minutes, as a Bemerton midfielder lay injured from a 50/50 tackle, Bideford pushed forward and from the resulting cross, the ball was headed low past the Bemerton keeper.
Back came Bemerton and on 86 minutes another counter-attack found it's way through the Bideford defence. Perhaps they had been listening to Andy as a crisp, one touch passing move found Sanger in the box and his low shot beat the keeper to give what seemed to be the winner to Bemerton. All credit to Bideford, they continued to try and get back into the game again and with a minute to go it was 2 all. A free kick was played into a melee of players in the box and the ball broke to a Bideford sub to poke it in.
As this was an FA Vase game, there was some debate about whether the game would have extra time and penalties or just extra time. Looking at the number of Bideford supporters who left the terracing on the final whistle, you wondered whether they had realised that there was still more to play for. Most of them were back shortly after the extra time started so it was probably the search for a pint to steady the nerves that was the priority!
In the first half of extra time, Bemerton had a goal disallowed from a corner while Bideford had another good shout for a penalty turned down by the referee. The second half of extra time built up to a frantic finish. With 4 minutes to go, Bideford's no 12 went past his man and into the box for a shot that looked to be heading in but finished up going just wide. Bemerton then broke away but Bideford's keeper saved the point blank shot.
Just as everyone started to prepare themselves for a midweek replay, Bideford's sub took a last minute shot along the ground with plenty of power from 20 yards, through a melee of players and the Bemerton keeper's hands to trickle into the goal. While the Bemerton players collapsed to the ground in disbelief, the Bideford supporters and players went crazy. There was just enough time to kick off after the goal before the final whistle was blown.
A very entertaining game for the neutral and one played in a good spirit as there were no bookings or sendings off throughout the 120 minutes.
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