FA Cup run continues with victory against Abbey Rangers

FA Cup Preliminary round

August 17 2024

Hanworth Villa 4

• Manny Parry (36′)
• George Wells (45+2′)
• Kyen Nicholas (64′)
• Dylan Randall (90+7′)

Sam Merson with a hat trick of assists.

Abbey Rangers 1

• Jae Kelly (39′)

Attendance: 216

Match report

There was a great buzz around Rectory Meadow as we welcomed Abbey Rangers in the preliminary round of The Emirates FA Cup.

Kick off

We started brightly and after two minutes we broke into the opponent’s half through a typically lung busting run from Aston Nunn. Sam Merson stepped up on spot kick duty and fired one across the box where it is headed goalwards and into the arms of the keeper by George Wells.

Early on in the game there was collision between Rayan Djouadj and one of the Abbey Rangers players. There was an audible crack and Djouadj hit the deck and blood pouring from his face. After some treatment – thankfully – he was back on his feet and ready to continue.

Our next attack came from a Sam Merson long through but resulted in a foul being awarded against us. 

As the game progressed Abbey Rangers started to get a real foothold and on 24’ they attacked our box with a long throw. But our defence held strong and cleared easily. 

We had a series of corners in a good spell of possession around the half hour mark. George Wells testing the goal keeper from one corner and then heading wide from another, before we finally made the breakthrough.

 34’ Villa got a corner on the right and this time they made it pay. Merson crossed the ball which was headed on by Mead into the path of Manny Parry who buried the ball in the back of the net to get his first goal for the club.

Goal: Manny Parry – Hanworth Villa 1 :  0 Abbey Rangers

It didn’t take long for Abbey Rangers to bring parity. A terrific cross field ball from Karanja broke our offside trap and on the right wing Jae Kelly ran onto the ball and slotted the ball past our despairing keeper. 

Goal: Jae Kelley – Hanworth Villa 1 :  1 Abbey Rangers

On 40 minutes we had one of the best moves of the match with Quincy Patterson just firing over. 

We continued to press as the half reached the end and with Finlay Macnab putting the ball on a plate to Shane Dunne a second goal looked imminent. However Shane caught the ball as he was leaning back and fired over. In the dying seconds of the game we saw a repeat of the set piece that went so close earlier in the game but this time George Wells didn’t miss. Sending us in 2-1 up at the break.

Goal: George Wells 45’ + 1 – Hanworth Villa 2 :  1 Abbey Rangers

Half time

It seems as if some home truths may have been told at half time as our boys came out showing a lot more determination forcing the Rangers keeper Shay Honey into a series of early saves. As we got into our stride Kyen Nicholas had a couple of gilt edge chances one of which he touched home on 65’

Goal: Kyen Nicholas 65’ – Hanworth Villa 3 :  1 Abbey Rangers 

With Abbey Rangers pushing for a goal to get back into the game their goal score Jae Kelly won himself an inexplicable second yellow card for diving effectively gifting the game to Villa. 

That said, Abbey Rangers never gave up and looked threatening right to the last.

Late into extra time we scored our fourth when Dylan Randall chased down what looked like a lost cause and dispossessed the keeper to pass the ball into the net. 

Goal: Dylan Randall 90’+5 – Hanworth Villa 4 :  1 Abbey Rangers 

Not a vintage performance by the team but we got the job done with some good individual performances and four different goalscorers. 

How we lined up