FECKENHAM assistant manager Ryan Young hailed the Millers’ reaction to their Presidents Cup exit after this time coming out on the right end of a penalty shoot-out to progress into the last 16 of the Smedley Crooke Memorial Charity Cup.
A week after losing to Redditch Borough on spot-kicks, Feckenham were involved in another 2-2 draw but this time prevailed 4-2 on penalties to see off visitors Fairfield Villa and leave themselves in good spirits as they prepare to host Coton Green in Midland League Division Two on Saturday.
George Tolley opened the scoring for the Millers on eight minutes but second half strikes from Ronald Adjei and Peter Jenvey had Fairfield ahead with 17 minutes remaining, only for Ben Cox to reward a late Feckenham onslaught with an equaliser in the first minute of injury time.
Jak Albutt, Cox, George Lutwyche and Connor Perry-Holmes were all successful in the shoot-out for the hosts.
Young says fifth-placed Feckenham, who have 19 points from eight games, have lots to be positive about.
“Saturday was a pleasing reaction to last week’s disappointing penalty defeat and it was nice to be on the winning side in the shoot-out this time around,” said Young.
“Aaron (Blackwood, manager) took the opportunity to rotate the group as he previously said he would.
“It was really good to see George Tolley open his scoring account for the season on his first start, whilst the performances of the returning George Lutwyche and Max Tibbins in midfield were another real positive which will create the type of headaches the management team wants going into the next few weeks.
“Saturday was certainly a game of two halves. We controlled the first and I don’t think anyone at the game would have disputed it had we gone in more than 1-0 up at half-time, however, again the need to be slightly more clinical in front of goal has arisen.
“In the second half Fairfield came out with a lot more fluency in their play and the introduction of Alife Bloomer from the bench just after half-time made them look a lot more dangerous going forward from the get-go.
“On the whole a 2-2 draw after 90 was probably a fair result. Having made a fair few changes and rotated the side, it is a decent result against a very strong outfit in Fairfield so was a good day’s work and we have also got into the next round.
“Coton are always a competitive side so it will be a tough game on Saturday but it is one we need to look to get a result out of. We have beaten them 2-1 already this year away from home.
“We are in a good position in the league and also have a couple of games in hand on the teams above us, so we need to try and take advantage of that coming back into the league calendar for the next month.”
