10th January 2016

Yeovil Town entered the fourth round of the FA Cup following a dramatic draw with fellow League Two side Carlisle United.

The game took place at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road because of the flooding in the Carlisle area, meaning a shorter trip for Town and their loyal fans.

Goals from Danny Grainger and Mark Ellis were both cancelled out by Francois Zoko and sub Shaun Jeffers.

Manager Darren Way made two changes from the side that beat York City the previous weekend.

Josh Sheehan returned to parent club Swansea City and was replaced by Everton loanee Liam Walsh. The other change for Town was up front with Shaun Jeffers making way for West Bromwich Albion loanee Tahvon Campbell.

The Glovers started brightly and enjoyed the majority of play in the opening stages. But despite their bright start it was Carlisle who nearly opened the scoring just before the 15-

minute mark. A long ball over the back line was chested down well by Jabo Ibehre inside the 18-yard box, but the big striker fired wide whilst under pressure from Dickson.

The ‘home’ side did open the scoring after 25 minutes. A strong shout for handball by Ibehre by the Glovers was waved away by the referee only for the man in the middle to blow for a handball by Tozer on the edge of the Town area, which looked exactly the same as the decision the referee waved away just seconds before.

Carlisle’s skipper Grainger stepped up take the resulting free-kick and his effort took a slight deflection off the wall and nestled in the corner of the net.

Five minutes later and at the other end Town nearly levelled. Campbell’s clever run into the area saw him find enough space to fire a shot at goal, only for his effort to be parried by Hanford. From the rebound Zoko couldn’t quite get high enough to head home into an empty net.

Just before the half time whistle the home side had two clear cut chances but found keeper Krysiak in fine form. The Polish shot stopper firs denied Charlie Wyke when the striker was through on goal and followed that up with a point black save deny Raynes from close range.

Ten minutes into the second half and the home side nearly doubled their lead and would have done if it wasn’t for the woodwork. A superb strike from Grainger from 25 yards came back off the bar into the path of Wyke, who somehow hit the post and with the ball rolling along the line Town managed to re-gather and clear away any danger.

At the other end Carlisle keeper Hanford had to be on his toes when he palmed away a Sokolik header to keep the score at 1-0.

Town did level the scores and deservedly so on 71 minutes. Patient build up starting with Tozer and Dolan exchanging passes before Tozer found Ward in space. The captain’s cross was pin point on the head of Zoko, who looped his header over Hanford and into the corner of the net.

The Glovers were only level for five minutes before Carlisle regained the lead. A free kick on the left was whipped into the box by Gilliead and with a Town defender slipping the ball was met by Ellis, who headed powerfully home from close range.

With just under five minutes remaining Town could have drew level when Darren Ward met a Roberts cross, only to see his header go over the bar.

Deep into injury time Town drew level when sub Shaun Jeffers turned in the area to fire past Hanford, much to the delight of the travelling faithful behind the goal at the opposite end.