Trophy dream goes on for Chasetown

Goalkeeper Ryan Price was the hero as he kept alive Chasetown's hopes of reaching Wembley after a tense FA Trophy quarter-final with Mansfield.

The visitors had been the better side for the majority of the contest at the Scholars Ground but found Price in truly sensational form, as he made a string of superb saves to deny them the win they will have felt their dominance deserved.

Mansfield had looked certain to go through until the final minutes but Charlie Blakemore's side once again refused to throw in the towel and earned themselves a replay against the Stags next Tuesday in a 2-2 draw after a dramatic finale.

Chasetown were quickest out of the blocks and Richard Davies went on a marauding run straight from the kick-off, but his low shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide of the post.

Mansfield created their first opportunity in the 15th minute when Louis Moult was fouled by Jimmy Turner on the edge of the box.

Ashley Cain took the resulting free-kick and his delivery picked out defender Tom Naylor, who saw his powerful header clip the crossbar.

The Blue Square Premier outfit looked the more dangerous of the two sides as the half wore on and Adam Murray brought a fine save out of Price in the 20th minute.

Price was called into action moments later when Mansfield winger Moult broke down the left flank and his low cross found Paul Connor.

The striker tried to side-foot the ball home from six yards but Price was equal to it and showed great anticipation to make arguably his best save of the night.

It was always going to take a goal of supreme quality to beat the Chasetown goalkeeper and Connor duly delivered with a stunning strike in the 35th minute.

Connor latched on to a neat flick by Tyrone Thompson and, as the Chasetown defence backed off, Mansfield's top scorer opted to shoot and unleashed a 30-yard screamer which escaped the fingertips of Price and flew into the top-left corner.

The visitors were the better side immediately after the half-time interval and Price was called into action almost straight away when Louis Briscoe hit a fierce half-volley from the right side of the box which the goalkeeper pushed past the post.

However, Chasetown slowly grew into the game and pulled level in the 59th minute after a concerted spell of pressure.

The ball fell to Turner on the right flank and his inswinging cross was missed by everyone inside a packed penalty area and dropped into the net at back post as Stags goalkeeper David Grof hesitated.

Mansfield responded positively and regained the lead in the 74th minute with another spectacular long-range effort.

Space opened up in front of Briscoe and his sweetly-struck shot beat the despairing dive of Price and nestled in the bottom corner of the net.

However, Blakemore's side never know when they are beaten and after Price had twice denied Mansfield late on, the Scholars snatched an 89th minute equaliser.

A spell of pressure saw Chasetown force a corner and the match really was a tale of two goalkeepers, as Grof palmed Davies' inswinging delivery into his own net to send the majority of the 2,000 capacity crowd wild and dreaming of Wembley - for another week at least.

By Timothy Abraham