Two goals in 90 seconds on the stroke of half-time by Paul Morby and Ritchie Way swept Fareham Town to a shock 2-1 Hampshire Senior Cup quarter-final win over nine-man Havant & Waterlooville at Cams Alders last night.
To compound their misery, Hawks had Neil Champion and Jimmy Taylor sent off by Danny McDermid, who also dished out seven bookings - four of them to Havant players.
Champion and Taylor now face bans, though neither player warranted being sent off by the controversial Scot - an Army captain based at Aldershot - who had to be escorted from the field at the end of the match as 30 or so angry Havant supporters congregated by the dressing rooms to vent their feelings.
Champion was dismissed in the 33rd minute for an alleged elbow in the face of Fareham striker Floyd Hamodu.
The incident appeared little more than a jostle between the two players, but will cost the Havant midfielder a four-match ban.
Taylor was red-carded with just two minutes of normal time remaining - for allegedly stamping on teenage Fareham substitute Andy Puckett, whom he coaches at Itchen College!
"There's no way I would ever do that to a lad, particularly Andy, who I obviously know well and teach several times a week," Taylor said.
Puckett confirmed after the match that Taylor had not stamped on him.
To some extent, Mr McDermid's display took the gloss off a night of glory for the Sydenhams Wessex League underdogs, who deserved their win.
"Our performance just wasn't acceptable and was very disappointing for me in only my second match in charge," said new Havant boss Dave Leworthy, who plans to bring new faces to West Leigh Park very shortly.
But Leworthy, who signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1984 after a spell at Cams Alders, was full of praise for his old club. "I'm not taking anything away from Fareham, who worked hard and got their just rewards. They had eight or nine guys who had great games and, no matter who you play, when that happens you've got a fair chance of winning."
Fareham had to come from behind to win - already depleted Havant seizing the initiative through former AFC Bournemouth youngster James Ford, ironically six minutes after Champion had been sent off.
But the tie was turned on its head in dramatic fashion in the minutes leading up to the half-time break.
Morby climbed above the Hawks defence to head Fareham's equaliser from Richie Way's corner.
Straight from the restart, Havant almost regained the lead - only for the impressive Lee Webber to deny a goalbound effort from Taylor.
Then, in stoppage time at the end of the first period, Jamie Musselwhite was fouled on the edge of the D and Way sent a delightful curling free-kick round the Havant wall for what proved to be Fareham's winner.
Taylor's late dismissal sparked a ten-man touchline melee, when it appeared a punch may have been thrown. "The referee's report will be interesting," said Leworthy. "But in the end we just have to get on with it and accept his decisions."
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