Eastbourne Borough U18 0 Northwood U18 0
Eastbourne Borough won 6-5 on penalties
Friday 17th October 2025
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
|||
| 1 | Matt Burrows | ||
| 2 | Riley Loveday | ||
| 3 | Chase Matthew (79m) | ||
| 4 | Luke Atkinson (67m) | ||
| 5 | Aidan Tarrant | ||
| 6 | Josh Havard | ||
| 7 | Henry Atkinson (89m) | ||
| 8 | Freddie Ford | ||
| 9 | Royd Pullem (76m) | ||
| 10 | Tobi Faleye | ||
| 11 | Michael Kelly | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | James King (76m) | ||
| 14 | Rowan Daly (67m)  |
||
| 15 | Jude Flemming (89m) | ||
| 16 | Calum Gardner | ||
| 17 | Ledion Latifi | ||
| 18 | Caleb Wright (67m) | ||
| 19 | Owen Miall-Smith | ||
Looking to reach the first round proper of the FA Youth Cup for the first time in fifteen years, the Woods fell just short, beaten in a dramatic penalty shoot-out following a ninety-minute battle in front of a vociferous home crowd on Friday night down on the south coast.
Top scorer Royd Pullem and Chase Matthew were both back in the starting line-up after injury issues and the Woods started brightly. Henry Atkinson made a good run down the right, combining with Freddie Ford, and his cut-back found Tobi Faleye who’s shot was deflected off for a corner. From that Faleye curled the ball in and it clipped the bar.
Seven minutes later another counter-attack saw Henry Atkinson attack down the right again at speed and he laid it off perfectly to Michael Kelly but his shot was well saved by home goalkeeper Toby Whiteside. On 17 minutes, the Woods had another opportunity to take a deserved lead when Faleye’s free-kick to the far post looked like going out until Aidan Tarrant managed to head back across goal. It fell neatly to Kelly but once again his left-foot strike was well saved by Whiteside. The Eastbourne keeper was one of two of the home side’s starting line-up to represent the British Virgin Islands in the Under-17s World Cup qualifiers in Costa Rica last season and he was certainly showing his skills.
Just two minutes later, Kelly turned provider for Northwood as he picked out Freddie Ford in the box but his first touch let him down and the ball rolled kindly to the keeper as the Woods continued to threaten in attack.
Eastbourne had their first effort on goal at a corner on 20 minutes as Jimmy Holman’s looping header was pushed wide by Matt Burrows in the Woods goal. Straight up the other end and Pullem battled well to knock in a cross which saw Faleye tripped in the box but penalty appeals were waved away.
After Kelly had again put in a great cross that lacked a finishing touch from the Woods, Burrows was well-position to save comfortably from Tarik Kadric in a rare threat from the Borough. Five minutes before the break, Northwood should have been ahead. Matthew’s ball forward was headed on by Pullem to Ford who showed a great touch on the edge of the area but then saw his powerful shot tipped onto the bar by Whiteside. Pullem was quickest to the loose ball and fired home but a flag ruled it out for offside; a decision that has been proved to be very wrong.
Eastbourne came into the game more after the interval forcing a couple of corners but the Woods were generally still solid at the back with Burrows looking safe behind them, easily grabbing a deflected effort from Dashiell Callen-Dickens.
Northwood were less in attack mode for sure but after 65 minutes they could have been ahead when Kelly found space down the left once again and knocked in a cross which picked out Ford but this time his trusty left foot let him down with just the keeper to beat as he miskicked.
Substitutions from both sides broke up the play as the second-half progressed and there were few chances in the final third, the Woods going closest with an effort from substitute James King but it lacked the power to beat Whiteside.
For the second successive round, it was penalties that would decide who would earn the right to a first-round tie away at Football League side Stevenage and the Woods went first but King’s well-struck kick was well saved by Whiteside much to the delight of the large contingent of screaming fans behind the goal. But this was countered immediately when Burrows made a similar diving stop to deny Kadric so 0-0 after one each.
Then followed a series of ten well-taken spot-kicks with Josh Havard, Faleye, Ford, Kelly and Flemming all scoring for the Woods while Burrows was unable to deny accurate shots from Mardy Ovenden Theo Coleman-Standen, Whiteside, Holman and Matt Searle. At 5-5, we were already into sudden-death and Whiteside dived to his left to keep out Wright’s effort before the win was secured by the narrowest margin when Jacob Hill scored for the home side.
It had been a performance to be proud of by a side that represented the club superbly and they can certainly count themselves unlucky not to have made it through with a man of the match performance from the home goalkeeper.
Attendance: 335
REPORT by Alan Evans
