Striker Declan Howe was full of praise for Gainsborough Trinity’s performance in the 4-0 thrashing of National League side Boston United.
The result means the Northern Premier League side have qualified for the FA Cup first round, for the first time in seven years. The Holy Blues will now travel to Hednesford Town in the first round, during the weekend of November 2.
On making the first round, Howe said: “It means a lot. I think we deserved it. The performance we put in tonight and Saturday, and all the other performances leading up to it, we fully deserve to be in the first round, and I’m over the moon.”
The original tie, held at The Northolme, ended in dramatic fashion, with second-half substitute Pemi Aderoju equalising in the eighth minute of stoppage time for Boston. It sent the all Lincolnshire clash to a replay on Tuesday night at the Jakemans Community Stadium, which Gainsborough cruised through.
Trinity bounced back in superb fashion and took the lead within three minutes when Howe poked the ball past United goalkeeper Ellis Craven. On the quick start, Howe said: “I don’t think it gets much better than that. It just settled us a nice early goal. We are used to that, and when we do that, we kick on from it.”
The National League side never looked troubling Trinity, with Russ Wilcox’s defence happy to withstand the pressure before launching devastating counter-attacks to see out the game, including Howe’s second goal. The Trinity striker was pleased with the defence’s performance.
He said: “I’m the first one to criticise the defence, but today all I did was praise them. They were fantastic, not even just the back four, every single person on the field was unbelievable, they were winning everything, and I cannot praise them enough.”
Russ Wilcox‘s Gainsborough return to league action on Saturday, travelling to Blyth Spartans, but before that, there is time for some celebration.
“The lads are on cloud nine, all singing and dancing. Those are the experiences you live for in football and I’m thankful that we have had it tonight,” Howe said.