‘Anyone but Chelsea’ says on-loan Stevenage keeper after heroics beat Hull City in the FA Cup
Stevenage's Jamie Cumming celebrates after his save in the shoot-out saw Boro reach the third round of the FA Cup. Picture: GAVIN ELLIS/TGS PHOTO - Credit: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo
Shoot-out hero Jamie Cumming knows exactly who he doesn’t want Stevenage to be paired with in the FA Cup third round draw – parent club Chelsea.
Jamie Cumming of Stevenage denies Tom Eaves of Hull City in their FA Cup second round match. Picture: GAVIN ELLIS/TGS PHOTO - Credit: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo
Boro had drawn 1-1 with the League One high-flyers after extra-time, Elliot List cancelling out a Tom Eaves spot-kick 11 minutes from the end of normal time.
And the youngster, on-loan at the Lamex from the Premier Division side, then got the better of Eaves in the shoot-out before crucially denying Sean McLoughlin to send Stevenage through.
But pulling the Blues out of the bag would be a disaster for him personally.
“I would say Chelsea away but I’m not sure I’d be able to play in that,” he laughed when he asked the eternal ‘who do you want’ question.
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“One of the other teams away from home? Anyone really, we’ll give it a good go.
“It’s an amazing feeling [to win on penalties] and obviously as a keeper it’s the best way to win the game.
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“I’m still annoyed that I didn’t save the penalty during the game but I played well apart from that.
“We’re all delighted and it is a massive win for the club.”
It was the fourth time this season that Stevenage have found themselves facing penalties, losing to Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup and Northampton Town in the EFL Trophy but beating Concord Rangers in round one of the FA Cup.
And Cumming said it was instinct rather than knowledge that made him the hero.
“I did a lot of homework,” he revealed. “We had research on five of their takers and I didn’t save one of them. They all changed the way they went.
“I’m better when I go off instincts and luckily I pulled two saves out of the bag.
“It’s two out of four [on penalties] but we’ve won the two FA Cup ones and those are the ones that matter, the most important ones for the club, and we’re buzzing we’re in the next round.
“I love it. All the way through extra-time I was preparing myself mentally as you know nine times out of 10 it is going to pens.
“You just have to believe it is going to be your moment.”
And he was more than convinced that it was a deserved success for Stevenage on the balance of play.
He said: “We deserved to at least draw the game in normal time. The amount of chances was quite even and it shows that if we play with intensity and win second balls, first balls, do all these simple things then we can compete with anyone in League Two.
“We do have quality up the pitch as well when we can get the ball to them.
“We won on Tuesday night [against Port Vale] and we want to keep that going.
“We know that if we put a couple of results together then we will be away from the bottom of the league.
“We’re confident as a team but we just need to build on it now.”
