It may be an old cliche but our Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round of the Emirates FA Cup was certainly a tale of two halves.

The game started brightly with Ardley United having the first chance of the game in the sixth minute, when a strong ball was whipped in from the corner only to be cleared away by Mr.Reading City, Eddie Lazarczuk who has commited to the club for a fifth season.

Minutes later, new centre-forward Ewan Lynch would have a debut to remember as he put the Cityzens ahead on the ninth minute. A throw from Lazarczuk was delivered into the box, flicked on by our-longest serving player Ellis Cowd who is back for a seventh season and Ewan Lynch made no mistake in finding the back of the net, opening his account for season.

Ardley then had an oppurtunity to get back into the game in the nineteenth minute, when Oliwer Orzechowski made a break down the left, and played the ball to Owen James who caught the ball on the bobble, but rather than challenge York in the city goal it was over the bar and away from danger.

City could of extended their lead but their corner in the twenty first minute failed to break Ardley’s defence and was cleared away by a strong head.

City veteran Lazarczcuk and new signing Lynch continued to cause problems for our opposition. With twenty three minutes there was a brilliant bit of link-up play between them with a quickly taken free kick.

A huge diagonal ball from inside our half found Lynch on the left wing, he then made a break into the box putting the ball across the goal, only for it go wide.

As we approached the half-hour mark the Cityzens continued to dominate proceedings and Lynch continued to impress this time linking up with Joe Pilling, who has commited to the club for his fifth season. The two of them were able to play in Team Captain Josh Baines who is back for his fourth season, he took a shot from the edge of the box and the ball hit the right side netting to double our lead.

With half-time approaching Ardley saw a chance go begging following a corner, the ball fell to an Ardley player at the back post but before they could act an instictive head caught the ball, sending the ball spinning wide for a goal kick.

Following a city corner, it was cleared from the box to new-signing Pele Hagger who was caught with his back to the goal. He flicked it goalward to Jake Impiazzi who almost had a debut to remember, but his first time strike went wide and will therefore have to wait to open his goalscoring account.

Ardley’s afternoon continued to get worse when shot-stopper Harry Francis-Jones put the ball into his own net after a miss placed past rolled past him with forty two minutes on the clock.

Half Time: 3-0 

The second half got underway with no changes from either side.

Our visitors flew out of the traps and reduced the deficit to two goals with forty nine minutes on the clock. A break down the right hand side found it’s way into the 6 yard box and a scramble on the goal line saw Oliwer Orzechowski hit the back of the net.

City made two changes before the hour mark as Simon Johnson changed his attacking options, swapping Noah Chengun for Bobbi Emery making his First Team debut having progressed from our Under 23s this summer.

Shortly after the hour mark, our visitors made three changes with Mason Courtney, Tyrae Njogu and Owen James making way for Gavin James, Finlay Beckett and Archie Bartlett.

With sixty-five minutes played City’s corner didn’t threaten our visitors as the ball in was cleared for a throw-in on the opposite side.

City could’ve extended their lead with sixty-seven minutes on the clock, following a well-worked routine a corner from the left hand side ended with Lynch heading his effort straight into the hands of Harry Francis-Jones who was between the sticks for Ardley.

Lynch became the first player to see yellow after blocking a quick free quick with sixty-nine minutes on the clock.

With twenty-minutes remaining Ardley hoping to still earn something from the game brought introduced a fresh pair of legs  as Sam McConnell made way for Declan Benjamin.

With just under 15 minutes of regular time left, Simon Johnson changed his attacking options with Ewan Lynch making way for Max Laschok who returned to the club this summer.

On the seventy-sixth minute Ardley’s Andi Noka was booked by the referee following a foul, which was shortly followed by a yellow for the Ardley Gaffer, Julian McMalmon.

With minutes remaining Declan Benjamin reduced Ardley United’s deficit to one, with a sensational strike from just outside the box.

With the game on a knife-edge the Rivermoor crowd watched on anxiously as both dug outs cried out for four additional minutes.

City defended well to hold on to their one goal lead, with the only real attack coming from Ardley coming in the ninety-third minute, which ended with an offside flag being shown.

Full Time: 3-2

Simon Johnson’s Cityzens will continue their Emirates FA Cup adventure when we welcome Nailsea and Tickenham to the Rivermoor on Saturday 17th August, with a three o’clock kick off.

Tickets for the fixture are on sale now, click here to purchase