Goalkeeper is King in dramatic Hemel FA Trophy win

Craig King (no.1) gets up to head home Hemel's equaliser. Photo: Facebook/Hemel FC Fans.

Hemel Hempstead Town progressed to the third round of the FA Trophy in extraordinary circumstances on Saturday.

Trailing 1-0 in the dying seconds of Saturday’s tie, goalkeeper Craig King went up for a Tudors corner and headed home the equalising goal to send the game straight to penalties.

King then proceeded to save a crucial penalty in the shoot-out as Hemel won 5-4 on spot-kicks to progress into the third round.

And manager Mark Jones was thrilled to see his side go through.

He said: “We gave ourselves a chance by hanging on in there and staying in the game and whilst it’s only 1-0 managers will always tell you you’ve always got that chance for something unbelievable to happen.

"King’s Lynn are an excellent side and haven’t lost at home all season, they’re flying high in the league and are in the second round of hte FA Cup, so it was probably the toughest tie we could have had.

"So we had to dig in but the honesty of the boys and the attitude to dig in meant we deserved what we got. King’s Lynn would rue their missed chances – they hit the woodwork three times – but that’s the kind of luck you sometimes need.

"I don’t think we could have written the script that we’d have our goalkeeper come up in the 95th minute and head it in, but it was great to see and I’m really pleased for the Hemel fans that travelled and gave us great backing – it’s nice to send them away buzzing and I’m delighted for the players.”

King had already made a couple of good saves before he was beaten on 13 minutes when Ken Charles drove the ball home after a cross from the right wasn’t dealt with.

But Hemel had weathered several storms and then scored the dramatic late equaliser, it went to penalty kicks.

The first two spot kicks were despatched, then Lynn missed their second, Hemel scored then missed their third and Lynn missed again but so did the Tudors.

The fifth penalties were both despatched so at 3-3 it went to sudden death. The next two went in before the final line was written, with King superbly saving Lynn’s effort and it was left to Harris O’Connor to step up and take the Tudors into the next round.