George Belli Cup

Waldon Athletic 4, Dartmouth AFC 3 (AET)

A much-improved Dartmouth AFC came agonisingly close to progressing into the next round of the Belli Cup after going down 4-3 to Waldon Athletic.

Ryan Frost and Lee Haywood returned to the side after being unavailable for last week's league game, and Charlie Smith was called up from the reserve team to play on the right hand side of midfield.

The spectators that braved the conditions were treated to an enthralling cup game on a sticky playing surface, and it was the visitors that started the better of the two sides.

Ryan Frost, Josh Web­ber and Freddie Smith in the centre of midfield began to im­pose themselves on the game and provide some much-needed support for lone striker and captain Karl Baker, and it was the latter who had the first real chance of the game.

He was played through by Webber and showed quick feet to round the 'keeper, but the outstretched arm of his opponent thwarted him at the last.

Danny Anisas Mena, Jordan Frost, Haywood and Kurtley Hassall were defending impeccably to restrict the hosts to a few half-chances, and this gave a depleted Dartmouth side the opportunity to catch the opposition on the break.

After 25 minutes, Ba­ker picked out a de­lightfully weighted cross for Webber to crash home an 18-yard volley via a deflection off of the back of Freddie Smith to give the visitors the lead.

As expected, Waldon threw more men forward looking for an equaliser, but after Richard Yeo cleared Ba­ker showed great strength to poke home from close range to double the lead.

Wal­don managed to reduce the arrears just before the half-time whistle, much to the frustration of the Dartmouth players.

The second half saw the visitors camped in their own half for long spells of the game, and on the hour mark Wal­don got their just re­wards when the striker flicked in from close range past Ryan Wal­ton to level the game.

Despite letting a two-goal lead slip, Dart­mouth showed great spirit to stay in the game with some courageous de­fence.

In fact, they came close to winning the game with minutes remaining, but Charlie Smith fired wide at the back post.

The match finished all square with extra time needed to separate the teams on an in­creasingly slippy field.

The first 15 minutes passed without little goalmouth action, and the second half of extra time began with 16-year-old Liam Wade­son being introduced for his debut. On the 107th minute, Webber swung in a dangerous free-kick that fell kindly to the feet of Charlie Smith, and the youngster smashed in a brilliant volley to spark celebrations among the away side.

After defending ex­cellently for the majority of the game, a man was left unmarked at the post and he finished well across Ryan Wal­ton to level the tie once again with only minutes remaining.

The match looked destined for penalties, but to the despair of the visitors Waldon scored immediately from the restart to book their place in the next round.

Dartmouth reserves saw off South Brent reserves in the Ronald Cup thanks to a single late goal from Rhys Mor­rallee in a 1-0 victory.

The reserves would like to thank Joyce Wadeson for providing the post-match food for both sides.

At the time of writing both teams were without a game this weekend, but any fixtures that have been rearranged will be advertised outside the clubhouse at Long­cross.