An ideal day for an FA Cup tie with the Fen Men bringing a decent crowd with them.
Baldock started off at a frenetic pace and looked really up for it. They were first to every ball and were immediately pressing down the right hand side through Hay. After a few mins Coppin, from the left back position, had put a long diagonal ball over the defence into the path of Hay who beat the defender into the box and forced the Keeper into a save.
This was the first move of this type and there was to be many more. The Wisbech left back would finish with a serious neck strain by the time this was over as he was constantly looking over his shoulder and turning back towards his own box.
A few mins later a throw in from Downes found Robertson who made ground and shot high and wide from about 25 yards. In 17 mins another long ball over the top found Balogun who was able to get into the box but fluffed the shot. Balogun was again involved as he won the ball just in his own half and laid it off to Robertson who beat a couple of men and broke clear but was brought down, nothing came of the resulting free kick.
Baldock’s goal came in 21 mins when yet another long diagonal ball went over the Wisbech line and again found Hay who again got through on the Keeper and this time slipped it under the Keeper - 1-0 to Baldock. Hay was roasting the Wisbech defence on the right.
In 32 mins we were back down the right again, this time Balogun getting to the byline and cutting back for Hay who forced the Keeper into a save.
Although the same names are featuring in these highlights I would have to say that everyone was playing well. Rome was dominating in midfield and the other guys chased everything. Our defence looked untroubled, really, as Wisbech never got going but this was only because Baldock didn’t let them.
Wisbech never had a serious attempt on goal the whole half.
1-0 to Baldock at half time.
Whatever the Wisbech manager said to his team at half time had an effect as they picked up the pace quite a bit and managed a shot on target after only a couple of minutes of the restart.
Wisbech were starting to press but this was offset by our very active midfield. In 52 mins White won the ball in his own half and beat a few men to take the ball wide on the left and saw the Keeper off his line, he went for an ultra long shot. It didn’t quite have the power to make it but it worried the Wisbech Keeper for a minute.
Despite this bit if relief Wisbech were much more in it in the second half and managed to peg Baldock back for a bit.
In 65 mins Balogun was chasing a long ball from his own own and barged through three defenders to get in on the Keeper, who then fell over but recovered enough to make the stop.
Shortly after that Balogun was off and Mitchell was on. I remember seeing this guy playing at the Shed, this was just what we needed at this point, some fresh legs with great pace as well. His first touch was a header from a Rome corner but he didn’t connect properly.
In 72 mins Baldock were soon involved in a scramble in their own 6 yard box, and this was about as close as Wisbech would get to a goal, but the linesman gave offside when a goal looked possible,
Rome started a good move from there to Gaffney who moved it on to Mitchell who got a shot on the Keeper but it was offside. One of the Wisbech subs managed a booking as he was trying to control Rome in his attempt to take charge. The Baldock defence were holding but increasingly becoming more strained as time went on. This was only to be expected as they had given everything on a really hot day and Wisbech needed to push on for a goal. In 80 mins Furness seemed to take a bad head knock and landed in the back of his own net. He was there for a good 5 mins and looked a bit dazed. He made it back on, which was just as well, we didn’t want to lose him at this stage.
As Wisbech pressed some gaps started to open in their defence and Mitchell had an excellent chance when clean through on the keeper but delayed just a bit too long and the defender recovered to put him off his shot.
Hay was still being a pain in the neck for the Wisbech defence and in 85 mins he managed to get through on the right and forced the Keeper into a stop.
We expected, and got a lot of, extra time but Baldock could see the finish line and held on easily enough for a tremendous win.
This was a great team performance and I could mention many more names but there wasn’t weak link - everyone was on it.

Sight of the day - Chairman Kingham’s rendition of Sweet Caroline as a form of consolation for the departing Wisbech fans - something for them to remember their time with Baldock (I don’t think).
(J.Graham, BTFC Fan)