Congleton Town are through to the Preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup as they defeated Wythenshawe Town 1-0 thanks to a goal from Danny Cocks.
A delightful through ball by Solomon Ashworth found the winger, who shot across Greg Hall and into the far corner of the net for the game’s only goal on the hour mark to book the Bears’ place in the next round. They will host Northern Premier League West side Witton Albion on the 19th August, who happen to include a certain Mr. Tom Pope in the squad.
The Bears had several chances throughout the game to add to their tally with Dan Needham going close a couple of times while Ethan Hartshorn put a header from a Peter Williams’ free kick wide of the mark.
At the other end, Wythenshawe’s Rodney Ajayi and Ruben Dass tested goalkeeper Cameron Phelps but, neither of them troubled the Bears keeper.
Kidsgrove Athletic need a replay if they are to progress past Lye Town as the two sides drew 0-0 at the Autonet Insurance Stadium.
Jake Lovatt should have opened the scoring after just five minutes of play when a Kieran Knapper cross found him inside the six-yard box but, he dragged his effort wide of the goal. While Knapper had a chance just before the break, however, he couldn’t convert Nat Morley’s cross.
After the break, it was Lye Town who created more chances to break the deadlock. The best fell to Ben Billingham who pounced on the ball after Kieran Harrison parried a free kick back into the danger zone, thankfully for the Grove, the chance was put well wide of the target.
Joe Woolley is another player who returned to the Grove this summer and, he should have won the game in the fourth minute of injury time when Kyle Diskin put the ball on a plate for him. The former 1874 Northwich man looked certain to score but, Ben Newey was able to tip the close-range shot around for a corner.
After the game, Grove manager Scott Dundas spoke to Tony Walley live on the radio.
Goalkeeper Kieran Harrison also spoke to station following the 0-0 draw.
Replays are also needed to decide who will progress in the games between Hanley Town vs. Hereford Pegasus and Newcastle Town vs. Romulus as they both started the season with score draws.
Hanley Town left it extremely late to get a 1-1 draw at Hellenic league side Hereford Pegasus.
The Peggy (yes that is their nickname) took the lead through a Carlos Moreira penalty midway through the first half when Alex Morris fouled his man in the area.
It looked like Hanley were going out of the competition until the 90th minute when Kieran Brown was fouled in the area. Up stepped Tyrone Ofori who made no mistake from the penalty spot to score his first goal for the club.
Newcastle Town drew 2-2 at Romulus despite leading twice in the game.
Josh Jordan got on the end of a Jack Van Der Laan corner to open the scoring for Castle, only for Finn Douglas to equalise.
Newcastle captain Tommy Van Der Laan restored Newcastle’s lead when his low header from his brother Jack’s free-kick beat Romulus goalkeeper Lewis Williams on 63 minutes.
It looked like Castle were going to progress to the next round only for Douglas to score his second goal of the game with just four minutes left on the clock.
Stone Old Alleynians were the only side from the local area to bow out of the competition at the weekend as they lost 3-0 to Atherstone Town. Lewis Noon scored a first half penalty, while goals from Jess Adcock and Sam Belcher in the second half knocked Old Alleynians out of the competition.
It wasn’t just all about FA Cup action this weekend, as there was also some league matches for our local sides.
Buxton hosted Craig Elliott’s former club Boston United for their first game of the new National League North season.
Former Boston forward Jordan Burrows got on the end of a Sam Minihan cross just before the hour mark to break the deadlock which looked enough to win the game for Buxton, only for Boston’s Kelsey Mooney to equalise in injury time.
Meanwhile, in the North West Counties First Division South, Alsager Town drew 3-3 with Cammell Laird 1907.
In a fantastic game of football Kallum Boyle, Sean Tierney and Tom Hassell found the back of the net for the Bullets. While Cammell Laird scored two goals in the final 10 minutes to share the points through Jay Havery and Matthew Beaman after James Eaton had earlier given Lairds the opener after just six minutes.
Abbey Hulton United’s home game with Market Drayton Town and Sandbach United’s game at Ashville were both called off due to waterlogged pitches.
Finally, pre-season 2023 ended on Friday night.
Leek Town hosted a youthful Crewe Alexandra side and got a creditable 2-2 draw thanks to goals from Olly Harrison and a Dan Trickett-Smith penalty.
You can hear reaction to the game with Leek manager Neil Baker.
While Nantwich Town completed their pre-season programme with a 3-0 defeat at Marine.
