Diego De Girolamo and Sam Wedgbury miss penalties as Buxton shockingly exit the Fa cup in the 2nd Qualifying round to Stafford Rangers.
The Bucks had the majority of the possession in what was a very high tempo game with action from both sides. Buxton who were looking to bounce off their 7-0 win in the last round were the more dominant side but couldn’t create enough clear cut chances.
Stafford scored 4 of the 5 penalties they took with Keane skying his penalty over the bar. Buxton will be disappointed after only back in March they won 5-1 in this fixture in the league.
There were a few changes to Buxton’s 11 with Wedgbury coming in for his first start and Granite making his debut after they both signed in the summer.
The first chance of the game came from Tommy Elliott after he picked up the ball from a short corner and hit his shot just wide of the mark.
It didn’t take long for Stafford to respond from this though with a scramble from a freekick which resulted in a deflection for a corner.
Cuff for the visitors went through on goal after a bad miss pass from Wedgbury and ran with pace at Taylor in goal but couldn’t hit the target with his shot.
Buxton’s had shouts for a penalty claim with Warren Clarke’s shot being hit hard at the defender which appeared to hit his hand but the ref waved the shouts away.
The fast Elliott went on a great run beating 2 players before going down in the box. The referee showed him the yellow card for diving.
A long freekick up from Tommy Taylor in goal hit it up onto the head of King but he just couldn’t direct it goalwards.
A lot of the game Buxton had most of the ball but like the past few games they just couldn’t finish off their chances.
Brogan hit a curling shot towards goal that went just over the bar as the Bucks continued to pile the pressure on.
Stafford had 2 quick opportunities to go ahead just before the break. The first coming when Cuff was through on goal again amd hit is shot with pace but it wasn’t good enough.
Buxton got the ball in the net early in the second half after Granite’s shot saved by king in goal fell to Diego De Girolamo and went in but the first shot was called offside by the linesman.
Granite came under pressure after this with a brilliant over the top ball lead to him having to head it back to the keeper.
Stafford pegged Buxton back a bit with a numbers of both corners and freekicks but they dealt with them well to clear their lines. Buxton probably should’ve had a penalty in the final minute of the game Tommy Elliott was bought down through on goal with the full time whistle being blown soon after taking the game to penalties.
In the aftermath because of that challenge Gary Hayward was sent off for his protests.
Jamie Sleigh took the first penalty and slotted it away into the goal. Bucks striker Diego De Girolamo was first up for the home side and his kick was saved by King in the goal. Both sides scored their next kicks. Keane skied his kick and Brogan equalised to bring the game back to level. Stafford scored their next penalty but King again denied Buxton with Wedgbury’s penalty being saved. Sam Coulson stepped up and sent them through to the next round.
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