Dunkirk 3-3 Newark Flowserve *1-4 pens (Notts FA Senior Cup Round Two) 19.11.19

A real entertaining match at the Riverside Ground in Lenton as Newark Flowserve eventually beat their hosts Dunkirk in the Second Round of the Nottinghamshire FA Senior Cup on penalties after extra time.

In a six-goal thriller between two attack minded teams it was Kyle Dixon, formerly of Notts County who opened the scoring for the away side after sliding past the Dunkirk keeper Ryan Howes on 34 minutes after a frenetic start that was end-to-end with both sides going close.

Ben Hutchinson forced Howes into a decent stop before the break and might have done better early in the second half with a header to double the advantage before Dunkirk went close themselves when a Sean Green cross was tipped on to the arm of a defender by Goalkeeper Joe Searson-Smithard with the Referee waving away any penalty claims.

On the hour though an error by Tobin in the Dunkirk defence allowed Kyle Dixon to put through Hutchinson with the former Middlesbrough and Celtic striker making no mistake.

With time running out in Newark’s favour it could have been curtains for Dunkirk when an audacious effort by King with Howes off his line went inches wide but it was the Boatmen who struck back with fourteen minutes remaining when Mark Green’s shot from the edge of the area deflected past the goalkeeper to set up a frantic finale.

As Dunkirk pressed with their tails up it didn’t take long to level the scores when after a good move an error by Searson-Smithard allowed Jordan Alls to nip in and poke home on 80 minutes and after a looping effort by Pearson struck the crossbar before Alls again capitalising on a defensive error struck wide from an open goal it might have been the homeside more disappointed than Newark that the game was going to extra time especially as in stoppage time Grant Tobin received his second yellow card of the match to be sent off.

That disappointment continued for Dunkirk when in extra time Elliott King chased the ball down to hit a low shot past Howes on 97 minutes in what looked to be the winner but Dunkirk are these days made of strong stuff and their never say die attitude was rewarded when Alls was tripped inside the box before Mark Green calmly sent the keeper the wrong way to level up again and take the match to penalty kicks.

Newark were first to score theirs through Dixon before Green stepped up having scored moments earlier to put the ball in the same place with this time the keeper guessing right. Both Newark & Dunkirk scored their second through Meadows and Pearson before Jamie Lloyd netted sending Howe the wrong way.

Dunkirk’s Mason Frizelle then had his penalty tamely saved and that left Gregg Smith to wrap up the win blasting his spot kick high in off the bar. Newark eventually winning 4-1 after the shootout following a thrilling 3-3 draw that was a great advertisement for Nottinghamshire Football and for the Senior Cup.

Elsewhere in the Notts Senior Cup Second Round West Bridgford beat Stapleford Town 6-2 at Regatta Way with a brace each for Tim Hopkinson and Tom Batterham with John Whitehurst and Ben Clark also netting for the home side and Keyworth United were beaten by Ashland Rovers 4-2 at Platt Lane.

Dunkirk: Howes, Boafo, Price, Wilcox, Frizelle, Pearson, Markelic, Comery, M Green, S Green (Alls 64), Meakin (Tobin 46).

Newark Flowserve: Searson-Smithard, Craig, Miller, Potts, Robinson, Pilero (Barrow 58), Beckett, Dixon, Hutchinson (King 68), Smith, Meadows (Clibbens 58).

Venue: Ron Steel Sports Ground (81)

*Main image @dunkirk_fc Gregg Smith hits the winning penalty in the shootout.