'Incredible' Billy Sharp spares Doncaster Rovers' blushes in TV FA Cup test at Kettering Town
League Two Rovers trailed 1-0 at half-time to seventh-tier Kettering – 68 places below Rovers – after Isiah Noel-Williams’ tidy finish, but a brace from veteran Sharp spared their blushes.
The 38-year-old scored late on in normal time, typically in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball in after a knockdown from a corner, to send the tie to an extra 30 minutes.
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Hide AdThen in the extra period, Sharp pounced inside the box again inside the box, right at the end of the first half of extra time to prevent Rovers being taken to the lottery of spot-kicks in front of the BBC cameras.


“I knew it was going to be a fight today,” said Rovers boss McCann.
“We lit a couple of fires for them really early on. And that just set the tone for the first half really.
“We wanted to play in behind and cause Kettering problems. Second half we had to change it because it’s getting on my nerves about how we have to keep reacting.
“The group need to start taking chances when they get them.
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“Billy is just incredible and a great person for us to have around the changing room. I think that’s eight goals now which is a decent return for him.”
Noel-Williams’ strike threatened an almighty upset for Kettering when he picked Patrick Kelly’s pocket before scoring from range.
But Sharp had other ideas as he applied two typical poacher finishes to end Kettering’s fairytale run.
Their boss Richard Lavery said: “We’ve done our club proud today and our fans proud. We’ve taken Doncaster to the wire and just fallen at the final hurdle.
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Hide Ad“I’m just gutted for the lads because we’ve shown we’re a good team. We showed it at Northampton and we’ve done it against Doncaster.
“We’ve beaten one league team and taken another to extra-time so I’m proud. I’m gutted we’ve lost but that’s football.
“This has put the club back on the map. I’m the worst loser in the world but I’ll have to take this on the chin.”