THERE was high drama at Bearscroft Lane on Saturday where Godmanchester Rovers beat Ramsey Town 3-2 in their Hunts Senior Cup semi final.

Despite reaching half-time 2-0 up, the home side squandered the lead as their Peterborough & District Premier Division oppenents rallied in the second half.

Godmanchester then missed a penalty before securing their place in the May-time final with a lasp-gasp winner from the impressive Mike Hyem.

Beforehand, joint Godmanchester manager Nev Nania had warned his players that Ramsey – who play one step below the Eastern Counties Division One side – would be no walkovers. “You know with Paul Taylor in charge that they are going to be a decent side,” he said. But afterwards he admitted: “It turned out to be closer than we expected.” Nania and co-manager David Hurst decided to give star striker Paul Bass another week to recover from his ankle injury – with their big top-of-the-table clash against Thetford Town looming.

But they were sharp from the off without him. Ramsey, having had almost a month off, were perhaps a little rusty, and they were caught napping after a quarter of an hour when defender Stuart Harper misjudged a long Rob Mackney clearance and James Hall sneaked in to slot the ball past Lloyd Turner Potter.

It was 2-0 soon after when Joe Furness found the net after a quick break from the back once again caught the Rams out; the midfielder brilliantly beating the Ramsey goalkeeper from 25 yards.

The visitors came out fighting in the second half, and a lovely move was completed by defender Adam Taylor, who raced on to a superb through ball to beat Mackney in the Goddy goal.

Young substitute Elliot Cafferkey got Ramsey’s second when he linked up with his older brother Michael before taking the ball past two defenders and shooting across the goal into the corner of the net.

Sensing an upset, Ramsey continued to pressure Rovers and were only denied the lead when Mackney made a superb double save in the 80th minute stopping captain Dan Edwards’ initial strike before resetting himself to parry the younger Cafferkey’s goalbound rebound with his feet.

Hyem was then brought down in the box but lashed his penalty over the bar before making up for that sloppy spot kick by finding the net in the 90th minute.

After composing himself in the box, the Goddy midfielder beat Lloyd Turner with a rising drive, much to the delight of the team’s vocal fans.