Saturday 11th September 2010FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round Proper
at the Reynolds Stadium, Causeway Lane, Matlock
Matlock Town (1) 3 (Hannah 6, Cropper 51, 57)Nick Buxton, Kris Witcombe (Mark Haran 28), Lee Featherstone, James Knowles, Adam Yates, James Lukic, Danny Wood, Steve Warne, Nathan Joynes, Ross Hannah (Dene Cropper 13), Colin Marrison (Ben Algar 79). Subs not used. Ben Turner.
Worksop Town (1) 1 (Shiels 42)
Jon Kennedy, Scott Wharton, Chris Wood, Mark Camm, Luke Shiels, Michael Simpkins (Steve Wankiewicz 21), Chris Bettney (Danny Simpson 73), Deon Meikle, Peter Knox (Ben Tomlinson 64), Jamie Jackson, Ryan Mallon. Subs not used. James Colliver, Danny Bacon.
Admission £8. Programme £1.50. Attendance 428
In which Worksop Town visited in form and currently table topping Matlock Town with £3,000 prize money at stake.Of course, not only are the Gladiators flying high, they contain a number of ex Worksop Town players amongst their ranks, including a couple of prolific goal scorers.
Anybody care to hazard a guess as to what happened next?
The route march to the pitchEx Gainsborough Trinity and Retford United player Colin Marrison was the creator.
On 13 minutes Ross Hannah had to go off after pulling his hamstring, he was replaced by another ex Tigers striker Dene Cropper.
Michael Simpkins also had to go off for Worksop, he had played with an injury and only lasted 20 minutes ... the former Tigers Under 19's captain Steve Wankiewicz came on in his place.
With less than half an hour gone Kris Witcombe the Matlock right back, pulled a muscle and was replaced by yet another ex Worksop Town player Mark Haran.
Amidst the turnover of players and enforced changes Worksop started to show some good touches and were playing their way back into the game.Chris Bettney hoisted over a corner on 41 minutes and Luke Shiels powered home a header at the far post for the equaliser.
Half Time 1-1
Peter Knox was denied what looked like a stonewall penalty early in the second half.
The game was still there for the taking at that point and the decision, which looked completely incorrect to me (albeit through slightly biased eyes), was to prove costly.
Matlock's Joynes had an effort on 50 minutes that he should've done better with, but he shot over in a one on one with Jon Kennedy, a minute or so later he opted not to shoot, but played Dene Cropper in instead ... who fired the home side back into the lead.
Bettney, Knox and Jackson all went close to grabbing a second goal for Worksop before Cropper added a third on the hour mark.
He looked offside, but the defence should've played on in the absence of the referee's whistle, they didn't ... and Dene Cropper put the ball home from an angle across Jon Kennedy's goal.
Wharton, Meikle and Wankiewicz all went close to scoring for Worksop late on, all from Ryan Mallon corners, but Nick Buxton just about held on in the Matlock goal and the home side march on in to the next round of the FA Cup.During the course of the afternoon, the main topic of conversation seemed to centre around the imminent departure of Tigers manager Peter Rinkcavage, even at such an early stage of the season, if his team didn't progress in the FA Cup.
After 3 wins and a draw in the six games prior to this cup elimination, that seems a bit harsh, particularly as today's result could've been a lot different if a couple of key decisions hadn't gone the way of the home side.
The rumour I've been hearing since the very outset of 2010-11 suggests that 'Rinky' was only getting ten games this campaign ... well we won't have to wait very long to see if that is fact or hearsay, but that version of events is emanating from someone within the club and isn't borne out of fans speculation.
Don Estelle invading the pitch. With the new Twigg Stand in the background."Don't you tell it to the breeze, cos she will tell the birds and bees"
