Southport v County: FA Trophy Match Thread (29/11/2017)

You really must be a sucker for punishment!
The trick is to quit while you're ahead, H - I thought Saturday's result would have taught you that!

My hastily-written 'Take Five' for COWS about all those Trophy-replay memories you will have tried your utmost to forget...!

*****************************************************************************************************

TAKE FIVE… County and FA Trophy Replays

By Hatter in Macc

So, we have an FA Trophy replay. Not what this column wanted, I guess?!

Actually - as historical luck would have it - the Hatters have been involved in a neat quintet of them, ahead of Wednesday night’s trip across to Southport. So, let us ‘Take Five’ to look back at those… although, admittedly, as the memories start coming back, we may wish that we hadn’t!

1. Stalybridge Celtic 2, County 1: First Round, 13 December 2011

County’s first experience of the Trophy was ultimately a rather humbling one. As a (then) Blue Square Premier side, following relegation from the League, the Hatters were spared the qualifying rounds - but, drawn against near-neighbours, Stalybridge, from the tier below, they failed to get the job done in SK3 at the first time of asking, even though Celtic had been reduced to 10 men for most of the second half following the 54th-minute dismissal of captain Rhys Meynell.

And so, three days later, to SK15 - where, on a freezing night in the Pennine foothills, an early County lead courtesy of Sean McConville was wiped out by second-half strikes from two players - namely, Greg Wilkinson and, a minute from time, Connor Jennings (who had scored both of Celtic’s goals in the initial match) - later to become Hatters. At least we were spared a Second Round trip to Guiseley, mind - we never did win at Nethermoor! And, talking of bogey grounds…

2. Southport 3, County 1: Second Round, 18 December 2012

One year on, and Connor Jennings - by now in a County shirt, as a loanee from Scunthorpe - scored another of his trademark 89th-minute goals to earn his latest team a midweek trip to Southport, after Karl Ledsham, continuing the unconscious tradition of Hatters-to-be who put the ball in County’s net during Trophy-ties, had given the ‘Sandgrounders’ a lead shortly after kick-off.

Ledsham was on the scoresheet again with Southport’s first in the replay, and the hosts scored twice more after Sean Newton was sent off - with Jordan Fagbola netting a token goal for County, but with Haig Avenue remaining the unhappy hunting ground for the Hatters that it had been since their last victory, in the old Third Division North, on 25 August 1956. Without wishing to tempt fate for this week, we have never prevailed in a cup-tie there… in peacetime, that is. Between 1916 and 1919, County’s footballing conscripts shot with deadly accuracy to win three out of three at the home of Southport Central and, subsequently, Southport Vulcan (as the Sandgrounders were then successively known) in the Wartime Principal Tournament!

3. County 2, Barrow 3: Third Qualifying Round, 19 November 2013

The Hatters, by now in non-league’s second tier and having to enter at the qualifying stage, suffered what remains date-wise their earliest Trophy exit in what has been, to this day, the only replay staged at Edgeley Park - against fellow National League North outfit, Barrow. Jordan Fagbola, with his uncanny penchant for scoring in the competition, had headed a late equaliser at Holker Street to earn County another chance - and things looked rosy three days later when Phil Jevons (who also scored in the first tie) converted a free kick to put his side ahead at EP.

That was, alas, as good as it got for the majority of the underwhelming 812 turnout. Ex-Hatter Danny O’Donnell came back to haunt his former club by equalising at the near post from a corner, before Marcus Carver bagged a brace - rendering Iain Howard’s late goal a mere consolation.

4. Wrexham 6, County 1: Second Round, 13 January 2015

Our participation in the 2014/15 competition came to an abrupt, emphatic end, in driving sleet and on a sub-zero night across the Welsh border. First-half goals from Jack Ryan and Chris Sharp at EP had been cancelled out after the break by the Hatters’ opponents from one level above (for whom Connor Jennings inevitably popped up to score) - and, sadly as things turned out, that was to be County’s chance of a first appearance in Round Three gone.

Wrexham got off to a flyer with two early goals at the Racecourse Ground, and looked to be cantering until two minutes before half-time when Chris Churchman’s strike from the edge of the box offered County a brief, and highly unlikely, moment of hope in the wintry gloom. But the hosts scored another four after the break - and their own net was left untroubled in the charge of midfield general Joe Clarke, who was called upon to use his hands just the once in 45 minutes after replacing the injured regular goalkeeper. All in all, not a night to savour, although we did avoid a Third Round tie against Gateshead - a ‘Bogie’ team in recent years… Arf.

5. Brackley Town 2, County 0: Second Round, 17 January 2017

Could it be a case of third time lucky, so far as advancing to the Third Round was concerned - with the Hatters, unbeaten in 10 matches, travelling for a replay at a ground where the hosts had never before scored against them, and having already enjoyed jubilant fortune in the original tie at EP, courtesy of Danny Lloyd’s screamer of an equaliser during the fourth minute of added time?

Erm… no. A subdued County performance at Brackley saw the ‘Saints’ net twice after the interval to progress and (successfully) face the dual challenge of Wealdstone on the pitch and the ‘Raider’ off it. The Hatters did, however, make a midweek return to St James Park a fortnight later and score thrice without reply in the NLN - so at least some semblance of normal service was resumed!

Hmmm - all defeats so far. Perhaps we just need to ‘Take Five’ attempts before winning!

Any more lines like that, and I shall knock you for six…

Lancaster City (A) awaits the winners in the next round.

Unfortuately I shall be in New Mills for Mrs Len Senior's 92nd birthday !

Drat.

Seconded!