MATTY Holmes saw Wimborne Town stay alive in the FA Trophy before admitting he was unsure whether Stef Penny had intended the crucial equaliser.

Magpies were 2-1 down with 18 minutes remaining but Penny lofted over Stags keeper Steve Mowthorpe to set up a replay at Testwood Stadium tomorrow.

However, regardless of the nature of Penny’s strike, boss Holmes was delighted to earn another shot at progress and £2,500 in prize money.

He told the Daily Echo: “It seemed like a cross-shot from Stef. He lofted it in and it went over the keeper’s head.

“I think any player would say it was a lob into the corner of the net, wouldn’t they? He said he saw the far corner.

"A goal is a goal and we’ll take that.”

Wimborne took the lead in the 19th minute when hotshot Toby Holmes tucked the ball into the net following good work from Ben Walker and Louis Kellaway.

However, a couple of quick-fire efforts saw the visitors take the lead. First, Curtis Angell tapped home after stopper Gerard Benfield spilled Mike Gosney’s cross following a collision with defender Sam Davidson.

Four minutes later, Dan Munday rammed into the net off the bar and Magpies faced an uphill struggle.

However, after having the lion’s share of the opportunities in the second half, Penny looped home the equaliser to earn his team another crack at progress, with Tiverton Town lying in wait in the first qualifying round.

Boss Holmes added: “I think we edged it overall but to be in the hat for the next round, I don’t think you can grumble after being 2-1 down.

“We scored a wonderful goal, just what we are all about this season. It was a great pass from Ben Walker to switch the play and then Louis Kellaway did excellently to slip the ball to Toby.

“But we didn’t do enough of that. I felt we went a little bit too long at times in the first half.

“We should have worked a bit harder. We were the home team but we weren’t closing their back line down that well, which we spoke about at half-time.

“In the second half, we came out with energy and intensity and I was absolutely delighted. We played really well and had lots of chances.

“Speaking to the fans afterwards, they felt we had played well and I agreed with them.

“The equaliser was definitely coming. We had six or seven chances. Toby went through and Scotty Arnold had one cleared off the line and Totton defended really well to stop those chances.

“They had a couple of breakaways and had a good chance to make it 3-1 but when you look at the overall game, we definitely deserved another goal.”

Magpies: Benfield, Walker, Penny, Arnold, S Davidson, Kellaway, Maybury, Lanahan, T Holmes, J Davidson, Lovell (Prior, 71). Unused subs: Cooper, Harvey, O’Hare.