A much depleted Rovers overcame a stiff test against a ball-playing Step 5 Hilltop in the London Senior Cup on Tuesday night. A shoot-out win saw us register our first win in a cup competition this season and sets up a home to against Isthmian Premier promotion chasers Dulwich Hamlet or Leyton Orient.
The hosts were quick out of the blocks, moving the ball around neatly and on six minutes a wonderful cross by Amarni Morris was well defended at the back post by Michael Samson. Our response saw Troy Walters release Cam Dobell, he rounded Hilltop keeper Cem Temur but was unable to get a shot away as the angle worsened. Mohammed Hussein, who was orchestrating things in the middle of the park for Hilltop threaded a neat ball to Mohamed Hashim, but good defending by Dan Williamson cleared the danger.
Walters saw a shot comfortably held by Temur on 13 minutes after good work by Jeff Cobblah. Williamson then saw his clearance picked off by Jordy Mubiny but his shot was blocked. Luke Ige gathered a loose ball on Abdullahi minutes drifted passed a couple of players before finding Williamson and his low cross was turned behind for a corner. Salman Abdullahi then upended Folarin Awoleke, leaving us with a free kick in a dangerous position, but the delivery was straight into the centre half. Hilltop broke quickly, but Williamson did well when left one on one and we eventually cleared the danger.
Midway through the half and Ige raced forward looked to play a one-two with Walters but Hilltop cleared. Hussein found Bruno Varela dos Santos on 26 minutes and he in turn played in Abdullahi but his cross-shot was cleared at the back post. Dobell then beat Aarush Yogarajan but saw his cross well defended at the back post, leading to an SCR corner which was wasted.
Ten minutes from the break and Samson fired an effort wide after a Rovers corner had only been half cleared. Kacper Orlowski then preserved parity, making an excellent stop at the feet of Mubiny, but on 3Hussein minutes the hosts took the lead. Hussein played the ball forward into Mubiny who threw a superb dummy taking the Rovers backline out of the game and allowing Jibril Mahdi to race free, round Orloswki and roll the ball home.
Almost immediately it should have been 2-0 when a straight ball set Hashim away only for Evangelos Empochontsif to get across and make a great covering challenge. Orlowski then had to be sharp off his line to clear a dangerous through ball.
Half time came with Hilltop holding a deserved lead.
Early in the second half and the scores were level. Walters did well on the left hand side and got beyond the full back and pulled the ball back to Dobell on the edge of the area, he nudged the ball into the path of Awoleke who fired into the bottom corner levelling things up. Samson found his way into the book on Yogarajan8 minutes with a “robust” challenge on Mubiny on the touchline, as Hilltop looked to restore their lead.
Rovers though had started the second half much brighter than they ended the first half, and a low Charlie Stallard shot bought a tremendous save out of Temur away to his right. Stallard then had a glorious chance to put Rovers ahead, latching onto an Ige cross, but for once his touch was poor and Temur gathered. Twenty minutes into the half and Rovers replaced Dobell with Sam Sesay. Awoleke found his way into the book, following a poor challenge on the edge of the area. Abdullahi’s free kick went straight into the wall, and the follow up by Hussein took a deflection and went out for a corner.
Yogarajan then whipped a cross in and picked out Hashim but his header went wide of the right hand post. Walters bought another good stop out of Temur on 72 minutes having been set beyond Yogarajan by Ige and back at the other end a low cross by dos Santos was well gathered by Orlowski, as the game swung from end to end.
Dos Santos then linked up with Ali Mohammed and his low deflected shot bought a fantastic save out of Orlowski. We made our second and final change on 79 minutes with Cobblah making way for Bert Lloyd who was thrown into an unusual forward roll. With five minutes remaining a dangerous Darnell Bromfield corner was well dealt with by Temur under huge pressure from Rovers.
Rovers thought they had won it in stoppage time, when Sesay hammered the ball home from just inside the area, but play had stopped due to an offside in the build up.
And so to the shoot out, and a high quality affair ensued, Evangelos Empochontsif got us off to a great start, only to be matched by an excellent Hilltop finish; Troy Walters snuck his kick under the keeper (although you would think if saved a retake would have ensued) with Hilltop responding. Folarin Awoleke hammered his into the top corner, and Orlowski got good hands on the third Hilltop strike but was only able to push into the side netting. Darnell Bromfield fired Rovers 4-3 ahead and Hilltop levelled with another excellent kick. Michael Samson then stepped up to convert and with Orlowski saving the final regulation spot kick to put us through by 5-4.