Non-league sides progress in FA Cup

It was another day for the underdogs as non-league Solihull Moors, Barnet and Chorley all tamed English Football League opposition to put themselves in the hat for Monday’s FA Cup second-round draw.

National League North side Chorley beat local rivals Wigan Athletic to progress to round two for the first time in 30 years, and only the third time in their history.

Connor Hall netted the winner in extra time with the scores tied at 2-2 in normal time, taking advantage of Adam Long’s first-half dismissal.

“It’s amazing for this group of players to do it,” Chorley boss Jamie Vermiglio told BBC Radio Lancashire. “It’s a newly collected group, so it’s good for them to achieve this and believe in themselves.

“They’re singing the team song in the dressing room now and the camaraderie can only grow from here. To get to the second round proper in the FA Cup, who knows what else we can do?”

National League side Barnet beat League One Burton – two tiers above them – despite being reduced to 10 men for the entire second half, with Wesley Fonguck’s winner coming before Matt Preston’s dismissal just before half-time.

“We’ve asked for and shown great character after going down to 10 men against a team two leagues above us,” said manager Peter Beadle.

“The boys hung in there, they put their bodies on the line and we got our rewards.”

For Solihull, planning how to topple an EFL side proved more complicated given Scunthorpe had not played for a fortnight after players tested positive for Covid-19.

“We didn’t know what they were going to have available,” said Moors boss Jimmy Shan after the National League side upset their League Two hosts 3-2. “But we held our own and won the game.”

Scunthorpe manager Neil Cox admitted he was “surprised by how good” his side played in the circumstances, even against a non-league side, but their lack of game time ultimately showed.

Saturday’s big stories from the FA Cup first roundWatch all of the latest FA Cup highlights and reaction hereAll the match reports on our FA Cup fixtures page

Heartbreak for Hayes, Torquay twice blow two-goal lead in thriller

It will take a long time for the players, staff and fans of Torquay United and Hayes & Yeading to fathom how they failed to add their names to this weekend’s list of FA Cup shocks.

After a scoreless 90 minutes, Southern League Premier South side Hayes looked certain to knock out League Two side Carlisle as Amos Nasha’s fierce strike put them 2-0 up three minutes into the second period of extra time.

Jon Mellish’s goal with two minutes left appeared a mere consolation, only for the defender to pop up again with a last-gasp equaliser to send the tie to penalties.

The drama continued in the shootout with Carlisle’s Josh Kayode seeing his match-winning spot-kick saved before team-mate Gavin Reilly spared his blushes with a sudden-death winner after Hayes captain Liam McDevitt’s miss.

Down in Devon, logic took the afternoon off as Torquay and Crawley traded 11 goals – eight of them…