It all started very quietly in Newport Pagnell as the area was affected by a local power cut before the game, it didn’t interfere with preparations for this cup tie however and by half past two, the flicker of lights was greeted by a small cheer in the club house.

Kempston started the brighter and could’ve been ahead in the seventh minute, when Ash Fuller found Jake Newman from a cross but the forward, who finished superbly, was deemed offside. No goal. Shortly afterwards, Newman clipped a post after good build up play from Ivy, then Ash Fuller tested the home keeper’s reflexes. It was in the twelfth minute that the early pressure told, Fuller switched the play to Sam Johnson whose low cross was turned in by the lunging Newman at the far post. Ten minutes later and the lead was doubled, a neat turn by Newman following a throw in saw the ball fed into Jamaine Ivy, who squared to Johnson. The winger checked inside his man and hit a low left footed shot into the bottom corner of the net. Five minutes before half time, the game should’ve been out of sight. A Sam Johnson cross was headed on by Newman, the ball fell to Fuller who unleashed a left foot pile driver from the edge of the area – only to see the Newport Pagnell keeper, Mark Osbourne, make a miracle save low to his left. Rovers went in at half time leading two nil.

The second half began with a string of half chances, falling to both teams. But the telling moment arrived shortly after the hour mark, a quickly taken free kick was headed in by the unmarked Liversidge while the Rovers back line were looking for an offside flag. The hosts began to press the game and were rewarded in the seventy eighth minute when a corner was swung in, headed off the line and drilled back in by substitute Stratton and cleared again. Only the second time, the assistant referee flagged to indicate that the clearance was from behind the line. Two two. The hosts were level for less than two minutes as at the other end, Johnson, latching onto a long Conway free kick, crossed in for Ash Fuller sliding in at the far post for Rovers to re-take the lead. The pace of the game quickened and Kyal McNulty managed to get back to clear a shot off the line from home favourite Koriya. Rovers had to weather some Newport Pagnell pressure, but they couldn’t create a clear opening. With two minutes left, Rovers thought the game was safe when neat interplay between sub Wigg-Booden and Fuller set up Newman for a tap in, but for the second time this afternoon Newman was left cursing the linesman’s flag. In the eighty ninth minute, the home pressure told, a cross was not cleared and Stratton fired a shot goalwards, which Koriya had to dodge on the goal line, so as not to be off side. Three three. There was time for one last bit of drama as Rovers pushed forward, Newman’s cross found Wigg-Booden in the area only for the forward to apparently be felled in the area by the sprawling Swans defender. The referee had a long look but decreed no penalty. Three each the final score. The lights may have come back on in the club house, but we are still in the dark about who will go through to the next round. The replay will be at Rovers this coming Tuesday.