Brentwood Town were held to a goalless draw by Concord Rangers at Thames Road in the Emirates FA Cup First Qualifying Round, setting up a replay at The Arena on Tuesday night.
The Blues produced an improved performance following recent results and created a number of opportunities across the 90 minutes, with the woodwork denying Nat Mardell in the second half. There were also Brentwood debuts for new signings Ansu Janneh, Samuel Adeyeye and Cameron Forde-Brown, with Adeyeye and Forde-Brown named in Keith Rowland’s starting XI.
It was a quiet opening to proceedings, with the hosts creating the first opportunity after 15 minutes. Connor Hart’s through ball found Khris Oti, whose effort was sent wide of the target.
The Blues then enjoyed a strong spell, with Forde-Brown and Adeyeye making an immediate impact. Forde-Brown found Malachi Linton, whose effort was denied by a punched save from Charlie Brown, before Tommy Davis flicked the resulting corner over the crossbar. Forde-Brown then went close himself, seeing a low strike from the edge of the area comfortably collected by the Concord goalkeeper.
Brentwood continued to push and came close again when Tommy Davis’ through ball released Linton, who dinked the ball over the onrushing Brown. However, Callum Knowlden was on hand to clear the effort off the line before Bradley Sach could convert the rebound.
The hosts threatened again shortly before the half-hour mark when Sam Brogan’s effort whistled wide of the far post.
Janneh was introduced before the break, replacing the injured Manny Harvest, as the Blues continued to look for a way through.
Forde-Brown was once again involved as the Blues searched for an opener before the interval, showing good footwork to get past his marker before curling an effort from distance agonisingly over the crossbar.
Brentwood started the second half on the front foot and continued to work themselves into dangerous positions, although they were unable to truly test the Concord defence.
A double substitution saw debutants Forde-Brown and Adeyeye replaced by Jesse Olukolu and Nat Mardell, before Benas Vaivada and Luke Read were introduced shortly afterwards in place of Ben Steward and Linton.
The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock arrived in the 74th minute. Mardell showed great skill to create space inside the area before seeing his strike beat Brown but come back off the woodwork. Mardell continued to threaten late on, with his free-kick delivery from the right narrowly evading Harry Gibbs, before another stoppage-time delivery was cleared by the Concord backline.
The hosts had their best opportunity of the second half through substitute Demi Elegushi, whose first-time effort on the edge of the box took a deflection off Gibbs and looped over the crossbar.
From the resulting corner, Concord captain Charlie Wardle swung the ball into the box, with the delivery clipping the crossbar on its way through.
Neither side could find the decisive breakthrough, meaning the tie will now be settled at The Arena.
Brentwood Town will host Concord Rangers in the Emirates FA Cup First Qualifying Round replay on Tuesday 8 September, 7:45pm, with a place in the Second Qualifying Round up for grabs.
CONCORD RANGERS: Brown (GK), Eyong, Polyblank (Togba 59′), Knowlden, Matthews, Hart, Brogan (D Elegushi 69′), Wardle, T Elegushi (Gregory 59′), Torres (Avis 82′), Oti
Subs not used: Libotte (GK), Dorili, Moore
BRENTWOOD TOWN: Prall (GK), Reid, Davis, Gibbs, Freeman, Steward (Read 72′), Harvest (Janneh 35′), Forde-Brown (Mardell 63′), Linton (Vaivada 72′), Adeyeye (Olukolu 63′), Sach
Subs not used: Pollock, Sterling
