Ten man AFC earn FA Cup replay against Newport Pagnell

FA Cup preliminary round: Newport Pagnell Town 1 AFC Dunstable 1
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AFC Dunstable earned an FA Cup replay despite having to play for over an hour with 10 men, as they drew 1-1 at Newport Pagnell Town on Saturday.

The visitors saw debutant Jason Beck shown a straight red card on 35 minutes, but held on to remain in the competition, with the replay taking place at Creasey Park this evening.

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After the midweek win over St Margaretsbury, AFC boss Steve Heath had to make a few changes with the Carney brothers on the bench, while Beck was handed his first start at left back, with Taishan Griffith recalled to the team.

The visitors quickly settled down and were ahead on nine minutes when Griffith was released down the left flank where he crossed for BJ Christie to fire home his 10th goal of the campaign.

He could have had a quickfire hat-trick, outpacing the defence to fire wide, before shooting narrowly over.

AFC’s task got harder 10 minutes before half time though as Beck was sent off for a clash of heads.

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Jermaine Hall and Christie both went close though, before in the second period, Newport were on level terms when Josh Crawley’s sweet strike found the bottom corner.

The visitors’ work was now cut out, as the nine outfield players worked hard to limit their opponents to a few efforts from range.

AFC almost snatched victory too, but Heath was full of praise for his team afterwards, saying: “I thought we looked comfortable with 11 men and when we went down to 10, the players worked so hard for each other.”

AFC: Perks, Massay, Beck, Griffiths, Cashman, Griffith, Turney, Olaleye, Christie, Humbert, Hall. Subs used: B Carney, Cooper. Subs not used: Byron, Ryan, N Carney.

Attendance: 111.