The Beachboys welcomed Wealdstone to their home ground of Thames Road on Canvey Island for a Second Round Qualifying replay, and they were cruising through thanks to two penalties from Danny Glozier when the drama occurred.
Minutes into the second-half, goalkeeper Jamie Butler, who had been named in the England C squad earlier in the day, was stretchered from the field following a heavy challenge. With no recognised keeper on the bench, it was left to Lampe to step forward and don the gloves.
Concord Rangers 2-0 Wealdstone
The FA Cup
Second Round Qualifying Replay
Tuesday 30 September 2014
Winning clubs receive £4500
“I didn’t see our goalie get injured, so at first I thought it was just a bit of banter when they said they were putting me on,” Lampe revealed to TheFA.com. “At first I was like ‘What you going on about?’ Then when I realised how severe the injury was, I thought ‘Why not do it again?’
“It was a bit of a shock at first – I thought the manager was having me on. I have done it once before, against the same opposition, and I didn’t do too bad last night when I went in.”
Following the head injury to Butler, it is unlikely that the number one will be in action as they return to Conference South action against Basingstoke Town on Saturday. But despite his impressive cameo between the sticks, Lampe is hoping his team-mate makes a speedy return – but he is ready to fill the breach again if needed.
“Jamie is a great keeper and we rate him really highly. He was at Spurs, and his distribution is unbelievable. I’m not sure how he is getting on – but obviously I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.
“We really do need him – the club can’t keep relying on me in goal!”
He added: “I’m not going to brag, but I thought I was pretty good last night… But I’m not as good as him.”
"The club can’t keep relying on me in goal!"
Jack Lampe
Lampe’s favoured position is in defence, but before last night’s heroics he has worn the goalkeeper’s jersey once before in similar circumstances, and he explained how his shot-stopping credentials came to prominence.
“The only reason I’ve ended up in goal was because of a game in training, and I cleared a few shots off the line,” he said.
“So the first time when our keeper got injured, one of my team-mates was geeing me on, and dared me to have a go so I said ‘Go on then, I will!’
“I didn’t expect to do so good to be fair.”
Having denied Wealdstone a late comeback, Concord are preparing for a home tie with Winchester City a week on Saturday. With only two ties left until the Football League clubs start getting involved, Lampe now wants to press on and achieve one of the goals set by manager Danny Cowley in pre-season.
“That’s one of our managers targets for us is reaching the First Round. Hopefully we can draw a big team,” he said.
“We just want to become more established. We have some great players and staff at the club and it would be nice to have a Cup run to raise the profile.
“We have Winchester in the next round, and we’ll be putting everything in to try and get into the Fourth Round Qualifying. Then after that hopefully we’ll get a good draw and go on to achieve our target.”
