Northwood 0 Banstead Athletic 1
Saturday 22nd February 1997
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
|||
| 1 | Lee Carroll | ||
| 2 | Steve Tobin | ||
| 3 | Kevin Dobson | ||
| 4 | Richard Coppinger | ||
| 5 | Sean Glynn | ||
| 6 | Eamon O'Connor (111m) | ||
| 7 | Colin Robinson | ||
| 8 | Chris Gell | ||
| 9 | Paul Halbert | ||
| 10 | Lawrence Holmes (90m) | ||
| 11 | Jerome Boadu | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Terry Benning (111m) | ||
| 14 | Danny Butler (90m) | ||
Report by JOHN LYONS
Northwood's dreams of reaching Wembley were cruelly shattered as Banstead scored an extra-time winner to march on to the semi-finals of the FA Carlsberg Vase.
The deciding goal came eight minutes into extra-time as the Surrey side put together an excellent break to give Richard Vercesi the chance to slot the ball past advancing Woods keeper Lee Carroll.
Steve Emmanuel's boys kept going and created chances to save 
themselves.
Colin Robinson forced Banstead keeper Scott Tarr to save his low drive and substitute Dave Butler was denied by the keeper's legs as he tried to force the ball home from the rebound.
In the second period of extra-time the inspirational Jerome Boadu headed wide from Kevin Dobson's pinpoint cross.
In the early stages of the match, it looked as though Woods would have their work cut out as Banstead forced the pace. Carroll tipped over Robin Welch's 45-yard effort and then Welch miskicked a great chance from a corner.
At the other end, Northwood's Paul Halbert, shackled by man marker Errol Vassell, escaped to head over after a fine move involving Steve Tobin, a man-of-the match candidate, Richard Coppinger and Chris Gell.
The second half, though, was when Woods, backed by a 912-strong crowd, built up some momentum and put the edginess of the first period behind them.
After Banstead's John Sweeney headed over a decent early chance, Woods got on top. Gell had already fired wide when Robinson connected with a Dobson cross only for the ball to fly narrowly wide.
Then came the moment that summed up Northwood's day. On the hour the lively Boadu picked up Eamon O'Connor's 40-yard floated pass on the left flank, cut in on goal and from 20 yards drilled in a low shot that struck the inside off the post and bounced away to safety.
Playmaker O'Connor brought the best out of Tarr with a long range effort the keeper somehow tipped over, Lawrence Holmes just failed to connect with a Dobson cross and the keeper got away with a heart-stopping fumble when Halbert headed the ball across goal.
In the final minute of normal time, though, Tobin pulled off a magnificent last-ditch tackle as Steve Hall prepared to pick his spot for Banstead's winner. It was only a temporary reprieve.
