AS FAR as drama in the FA Cup is concerned, you won't find a more dramatic cup-tie this season than Lymington and New Milton's magnificent 3-2 win over Chippenham Town at Fawcett's Field.

The 267 crowd were treated to a feast of frantic, incident-packed football, which saw Linnets grab two late goals to turn the match on its head, despite being down to 10 men following the sending off of Jimmy Sheppard.

And Linnets boss Ian Robinson enjoyed his afternoon like no other game of football he's been in charge of before.

"That was the best game I've been involved with since I became a Wessex League manager," said Robinson.

"They scored a superb goal to put them 2-1 in front and at that particular stage I thought we were dead and buried.

"You have ambitions to win games but you don't think about winning them in the last six minutes. We showed incredible stamina and character to come back."

Robinson is convinced that their opponents weren't expecting to come up against a side of the calibre of the New Foresters and thought that the visitors didn't show enough respect.

He added: "They definitely set out wrongly for the game I thought. They dropped four players and I think that was being a bit disrespectful to us."

The hosts got off to a flying start and immediately attacked the Southern Premier League outfit from the very beginning of this cup-tie.

It was this time last season where Paddy James produced his player-of-the-round performance at the same stage of the competition in the 8-2 mauling of Clevedon Town, and it was clear from the beginning of this tie that James was once again hungry to perform in the FA Cup.

He could have claimed a hat-trick inside the opening 20 minutes as the visitors' defence struggled to deal with his pace and movement.

He finally found the target on the half-hour. Darren Curtis knocked the ball up field on the right hand side and Simon Charity was being more than a little charitable, allowing the ball to bypass him, straight into the path of James who curled in a confident finish.

However, it took the Bluebirds just one minute to level matters when Gary Horgan got behind the Linnets back line before finding the back of the net via the foot of the post.

Linnets would have been the more disappointed to go into the break level and it looked as if their chance had gone as Steve White's side emerged with more purpose and seemed to have taken the game by the scruff of the neck.

And in the 66th minute the visitors took the lead when Scott Walker rifled an unstoppable 30-yard bender beyond Mark Watson in the Linnets goal.

Controversy then reared its head with Ian Herring bringing down Pete Smith. The resultant melee saw skipper Jimmy Sheppard, who had been booked previously, shown a red card for dissent.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Robinson threw caution to the wind and threw on attackers Kevin James and Darren Crook and played with four up as they searched for a miracle.

But, just as it looked like the end of the road in the FA Cup for another year, Kevin James levelled the scores with six minutes left, tapping in after a Chippenham defender had almost diverted Paddy James' cross past his own keeper.

The coup-de-grace arrived with just seconds to go to the final whistle.

From defending a free-kick, Linnets broke and Kevin Reacord surged on to a through ball and kept the coolest head in the ground to calmly lifted the ball over the on-rushing Mark Hervin, sparking scenes of celebration that will live long in the memory of the gathered throng.

Lymington and New Milton: Watson, Curtis, Sheppard, Towler, P Smith (King 85), Thomson (Crook 65), Clothier (K James 75), Anderson, Reacord, Jackson, P James. Unused sub: T Smith.