Kempston brushed aside by clinical Waders

The evening got off to the worst possible start for Kempston as a ninth minute free kick from the left hand side was driven into the area, finding the head of Jack Bowen, who headed in off the far post to open the scoring. Carl Knox, making his first appearance of the season, was left rooted to the spot. Rovers could muster nothing more than half chances in the first half, Nathan Tshikuna and Ben Shepherd going close. Six minutes before the break Shepherd found his name being taken for a trip on the breaking Bailey. Less than a minute later, Bowen lunged into a late challenge on the far side of the pitch on Kyal McNulty. The referee chose to keep his card in his pocket on this occasion. Callum Lewis forced visiting keeper, Liam Gooch, into his first real save of the evening just before the break with a shot on the turn from the edge of the box which produced a smart diving save.

Seven minutes into the second half and Rovers had their clearest sight of the visitors goal of the night so far, Jamaine Ivy played a ball across to Michael Lyon, who bore down on goal. His snap shot was blocked by the onrushing Gooch. Rovers were punished sixty seconds later as Montgomery caught Grant Fryer in possession midway in his own half, the Waders wide man set himself and lobbed the ball over Knox and into the net from fully thirty five yards. A brilliant piece of quick thinking and skill that resulted in a superb goal that perhaps deserved to be seen by more than the crowd at Hillgrounds tonight, one can only hope, for Montgomery’s sake that someone was videoing it. Two minutes later and the tie was effectively over as a contest, Dan Jarvis collected the ball wide on the right and set off on an old fashioned ‘maze up’, waltzing past four Rovers players before finishing neatly. Knox will be annoyed that he didn’t get more of hand to the ball, but as it trickled in, Bowen was on hand if needed. Just on the hour, Rovers made a double change, introducing Robbie Goodman and Jake Newman to the fray. It payed immediate dividends; as from the Waders goal kick to restart play, Goodman rose to head the ball back toward the visitors goal, Newman latched on to it and finished low for his fifteenth goal of the season in sixteen games. Michael Lyon found himself in the referee’s notebook midway through the half, for a trip on Bailey. With little over fifteen minutes remaining, Biggleswade killed the game off, Bowen got on the end of a goal kick and slipped the ball beyond Knox with a clinical finish. Route one football at it’s finest. Rovers thought they had a penalty moments later when the ball clearly came off the hand of Alban-Jones in the area. The referee chose to give nothing, assuming the handball to be accidental. The referee ducked another decision late on as Waders captain, Hall, seemed to lead with an elbow into a challenge with Robbie Goodman. Startlingly, not even a free kick was given. Deep into the six minutes of stoppage time, Waders sub Craig Daniel nearly added a gloss to the score, but his effort was denied by Knox, smartly off his line.

The game finished four one to the visitors who advance to the next round. Rovers return to league action at the weekend with a home game against Hanwell Town.