Chelmsford City

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Glenn Pennyfather

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Chelmsford 2-1 Crawley

Glenn Pennyfather offered a warning to City's forthcoming opponents for the rest of the season after watching his team overcome Blue Square Premier opponents Crawley Town in the FA Trophy, forecasting "these players will only get better and better" as the Clarets' Head Coach guided Chelmsford into the last 16 of the competition and claimed a further £6,000 in prize money for the club.

City twice took the lead through Anthony Cook and a Dave Rainford penalty against their challengers from one division higher in the pyramid and secured a prestige home fixture against either Oxford United or Woking in Round Three having overcome Michael Malcolm's early second-half leveller. Now matches can't flow quickly enough for Pennyfather's squad, who are on a remarkable run of just two defeats in 22 fixtures.

"I'm absolutely delighted," he beamed after the match. "We knew this would be a yardstick for us as Crawley were full-time with a wealth of experience in their squad. But I have a massive belief in my squad of players. We have got quality here and it showed tonight. The players wear their hearts on their sleeves and have made so much progress in such a short space of time. The run they've been on is a habit and I'm sure they're going into every game at the moment thinking they're going to win it."

The Clarets' boss had three enforced changes to make to the side which romped to a 4-1 victory at Weymouth at the weekend. Mark Haines was unable to recover sufficiently from a foot injury so he was replaced at right-back by Steve Clark. Heading forward, Marlon Patterson and Lewis Smith were both cup-tied and were replaced by wide midfielder Matthew Lock and striker Rob Edmans respectively in the line-up.

Edmans himself was involved in the first real attack of the game on 8 minutes, squaring into the penalty box in search of Anthony Cook on the break without success. But some defensive hesitancy at the other end eight minutes later could have cost the home side if Barry Cogan, a former FA Cup final midfielder with Millwall as recently as 2004, hadn't half-volleyed narrowly wide of 'keeper Ashley Harrison's goal frame.

Mid-way through the half a crafty Cook bicycle-kick into the danger area returned the earlier favour for Edmans who this time got his own head to the ball in space but with insufficient purchase to trouble custodian Simon Rayner from ten yards out. Though the same combination made it third time lucky four minutes prior to the break when a defender lost possession from an angle on the left inside the area, enabling Edmans to square a low cross to Cook who flicked inside the near post and into the net.

Chelmsford, therefore, re-entered after the break full of confidence but this soon took a dent within a minute of the resumption. City were caught cold as a teasing delivery from the left was headed on into the path of Malcolm a few yards out, the striker guiding into an open goal. Glenn recalled: "After half-time we knew the first 15 to 20 minutes would be so important as Crawley would be coming out of the blocks so it was so disappointing to concede. We made four errors in about 30 seconds leading up to the goal and it was such a sloppy goal to concede for us, which we haven't been doing."

Yet Chelmsford stole the lead back in the 68th minute. A corner was dropped into the danger zone and, when Rainford attempted to power a header on goal, Referee Stuart Burt felt a shove in his back warranted a penalty. Rainford got back up and coolly converted to Rayner's right. "We got our reward in the end with what was, in my opinion, a stone-wall penalty," Glenn proclaimed. "It was a pressure situation for him but one he can cope with well. He's told me about 300 times how he scored the penalty that took Dagenham into the Football League so I couldn't have had a better man on it."

From this point it was a question of whether the hosts could hold on for a second time though they briefly worried Town Manager Steve Evans again with a tentative Lock free-kick which took a deflection and had Rayner scrambling back. Crawley searched for a way back through Charles Ademeno's long-range drive wide though it would be Chelmsford who advanced to the next round with a text book, professional performance.

Chelmsford City 2-1 Crawley Town

Monday 18th January 2010

Melbourne Stadium

Kick-Off 7:45pm

FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Round.

Referee: Stuart Burt (Northampton).

Assistant Referees: B O'Sullivan (Peterborough) and C Francis (Little Downham).

Attendance: 715.

Click here for the official Chelmsford City FC website.