Chesterfield thought they had secured themselves a famous third-round victory as they led 3-2 going into second-half stoppage time but Brandon Thomas-Asante spared West Bromwich Albion’s blushes, his last-gasp equaliser ensuring that the Sky Bet Championship side earned a replay with their dogged non-League opponents.
Carlos Corberán’s West Brom side flew out of the blocks at the Technique Stadium and Thomas-Asante slid the ball home from Karlan Grant’s cut-back to open the scoring in the second minute.
Paul Cook, the Chesterfield manager, knew that his side would need an element of fortune to have any chance, and the luck landed perfectly in the lap of Tyrone Williams on seven minutes, when the central defender bundled the ball home from close range following Jamie Grimes’s knock-down of a Jeff King corner.
The home side’s confidence began to grow as West Brom seemed to suffer from shock, and the National League side pushed for a second.
But West Brom soon snapped out of their sleepwalk as Grant turned goalscorer, finishing Tom Rogic’s through-pass into the left channel to silence the raucous home support.
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West Brom began to show their class as Chesterfield’s confidence proved only temporary, and the visitors upped their intensity as they sought a third that would have surely sent Cook’s men packing.
But as is customary in the FA Cup, league placings and the pyramid system English football prides itself on counted for little. Chesterfield came again, determined to snatch an equaliser.
And they found renewed momentum with nine minutes of the first half to play, when Armando Dobra notched his fourth FA Cup goal of the campaign, profiting from some suspect defending to prod into the bottom-left corner. It left the Chesterfield fans, who had already seen their team get the better of the EFL’s AFC Wimbledon and Salford City to earn this tie, jubilant again.
Joe Quigley almost caught out the West Brom goalkeeper, David Button, minutes later with a left-foot drive, but it was the Albania youth international Dobra who got into the spotlight once more, slamming home the rebound from close range as the home side began to dream of a repeat of their 1997 run, when the Derbyshire club reached the semi-finals of the world’s oldest football competition. Chants of “Championship, you’re having a laugh” rang out from their fans.
West Brom needed the full depth of their squad to save themselves, and Daryl Dike’s added presence up top as he replaced Rogic. Semi Ajayi saw an effort cleared desperately off the line as they roared back into life, and Dike went close with a near-post header.
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As the fourth official raised his board to display a minimum of five added minutes, Chesterfield fans gulped. Taylor Gardner-Hickman soon picked up the ball on the right, and a deft touch off the head of Thomas-Asante sparked joyous scenes in the away end.
Star man Armando Dobra (Chesterfield).
Chesterfield (4-1-4-1): R Fitzsimmons — J King, T Williams, J Grimes, B Clements (B Horton 72) — M Jones — L Mandeville, T Akinola (A Asante 87), D Oldaker (O Banks 71), A Dobra (J Uchegbulam 87) — J Quigley (K Tshimanga 77). Booked Quigley.
West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): D Button —T Gardner-Hickman, M Kelly (D O’Shea 56), S Ajayi, Z Ashworth (J Molumby 45), — G Diangana (J Wallace 65), J Livermore (O Yokusulu 72), T Rogic (D Dike 55), A Reach — B Thomas-Asante, K Ahearne-Grant.
Referee R Welch.
Attendance 9,819.
