Bishop’s Stortford 2-2 (4-3 p) St Albans City Match Report

Bishop’s Stortford 2-2 (4-3 p) St Albans City Match Report 17/3/26

Hertfordshire Senior Cup Semi-Final

Hamish Arnold

Adam Hayton saved two penalties in a shootout as Bishop’s Stortford progressed to the Hertfordshire Senior Cup Final for the first time in nine years after a 2-2 draw against St Albans City at Woodside Park. Cole Dasilva and Charlie Castle had given the Blues a two-goal lead at half-time, before Zane Banton and Sonny Hart hit back after the break, with the equaliser coming in the fourth minute of second half injury time. Stortford scored all four of their penalties with Hayton denying the first and last takers for the Saints.

Brad Russell intercepted Sam Donkin’s wayward goal kick on the right side, he passed to Dasilva in a central position who curled the ball into the right side of the net from the edge of the box with a first-time finish. Kieran Petrie dispossessed Dempsy Crace on the wing and tried his luck with a near post shot but Hayton was equal to it. Dasilva’s free kick was cleared to Dempsy Crace whose low cross from the right found Aaron Greene in the middle, his shot was blocked and Castle fired in the rebound. Dasilva played a through ball to Castle on the left, he crossed to Greene in the middle but his header was saved by Donkin, before Alex Dyer curled a shot just wide of the bottom right corner from a low cross by Petrie that had been cleared to the edge of the box.

HT 2-0

Sam Smart’s right footed free kick was deflected off the wall for a corner, before Dasilva crossed to Frank Norris but his header was saved at the other end. Ryley Scott’s curling effort was tipped round the post by Hayton before substitute Alex Wall headed wide from close range from the resulting corner as the Isthmian League side increased the pressure on the Blues defence. A long ball from Donkin to captain Banton was controlled and slotted home when one-on-one with Hayton into the bottom right corner to halve the deficit with 17 minutes of normal time remaining. Dasilva’s right wing corner was headed clear but the stand-in captain crossed the ball back in, Deivi Kreka attempted an acrobatic volley but failed to make contact with the ball. Jasper Mather won the header from a right wing cross and having beaten Hayton he may have thought he had found the equaliser, but Jake Thompson cleared the ball off the goal line and over the crossbar. Haziz Kone saw his shot deflected off Jack Smith and Hayton made the save. Dasilva lost possession on halfway from a clearance when all apart from one player had been sent forward to crowd the box for a free kick, the cross came in from the right and Hayton didn’t make a clean contact with his punch, and Hart scrambled the ball in from close range.

FT 2-2

The visitors elected to take the first penalty in front of the Airport End, with skipper Banton stepping up to set the tone for his side, but Hayton’s strong right arm kept the ball out as he dived to his left. Dasilva curled the ball into the right side of the net with Donkin diving the wrong way, and Hayton got a hand to the next spot kick but Lewis Page had put enough power on the ball to see it find the top right corner. Donkin dived to the right as Smith fired down the middle and Wall found the bottom left corner with a powerful effort, Hayton dived the correct way but couldn’t find a save. Stevenage loanee Norris went to Donkin’s right with the goalkeeper guessing incorrectly, and Dyer sent Hayton the wrong way with a shot into the right side of the net. Hayton himself stepped up for Stortford’s fourth and sauntered up to the ball and arrowed the ball into the top left corner. Knowing they had to score to stay in the match, St Albans sent forward Mather, but Hayton diving low to his left kept him out to send the Blues to Letchworth.

FT 2-2 (4-3 p)

TEAMS

Bishop’s Stortford XI

1 Adam HAYTON

2 Dempsy CRACE

4 Cole DASILVA (c) (Goal 2’)

7 Charlie CASTLE (Goal 27’) (Kearney 73’)

10 Brad RUSSELL (Assist 2’) (Virciglio 46’)

14 Jack SMITH (Yellow card 87’)

15 Deivi KREKA

16 Jaden OGWUAZOR (Thompson 60’)

18 Erin AMU

19 Aaron GREENE (Assist 27’) (Norris 46’)

20 Harry FORDE

Subs

3 Oliver EDWARDS

5 Jake THOMPSON

9 Frank NORRIS

11 Haydn KEARNEY

12 Fabio VIRCIGLIO

St Albans City XI

13 Sam DONKIN

2 Jack JAMES (Gauthier 81’)

3 Lewis PAGE

5 Alex DYER (Yellow card 67’)

7 Sam SMART

8 Ryley SCOTT (Kone 72’)

11 Zane BANTON (c) (Goal 73’)

15 Jasper MATHER 

26 Kieran PETRIE (Wall 60’)

27 Jake GRANTE

28 Sonny HART (Goal 90+4’)

Subs

6 Jamal FYFIELD

9 Alex WALL

16 Haziz KONE

20 Kieran GAUTHIER

24 Tom BENDER

Attendance 194

PENALTIES

BIS SAC

X Banton

Dasilva /

/ Page

Smith /

/ Wall

Norris /

/ Dyer

Hayton /

X Mather