Worksop Town 2-1 Steels
Stocksbridge Park Steels suffered late heartbreak as Worksop Town sent them out of the FA Trophy.
The game started with Worksop putting on plenty of pressure as they looked to show why they were promoted from the Northern Premier League East and why Stocksbridge were not. They were pinging crosses in and they were connecting with the headers, but they either went over or forced good saves from Ben Townsend.
Stocksbridge did struggle to get out of their own half, though one push forward did see Luke Rawson poke one wide while stretching for it, but Worksop also failed to create many clear cut chances with the Steels remaining strong in defence. They did break Stocksbridge down once when a ball was pinged from the left and it beat Townsend, allowing Aleksandr Starcenko to head the ball towards goal. Charlie Oglesby made a crucial stop, clearing it off the line with his own header.
As they game went off, Stocksbridge grew into the game as they started winning more battles in midfield. They continued that in the second half. A vigorous challenge from Ross Goodwin in midfield with Worksop pressing forward caught the Tigers out, and Goodwin raced onto the ball before laying on a great pass for Rawson. He had a lot to do but his lofted shot beat Paul Cooper and went into the top corner, giving the Steels a shock lead.
The game could have changed very dramatically moments later. Tomas Poole crossed in a free kick with Cooper punched away and he chased it down to grab hold of the ball as well. However, it appeared he grabbed the ball outside of the box. This could have been a red card offence, but on this occasion no foul was called.
Worksop were desperate not to head out of the FA Trophy and started throwing everything at the Steels defence in order to get back into the game. Eventually, they got their goal. It was quickfire passing football which eventually allowed Liam Hughes to finish from close range.
The Tigers were now pushing for the win but they were often being denied by Townsend who was making a series of stunning saves. Stocksbridge also looked good on the counter with Jack Watson and Alex O’Connor breaking with the numbers on their side but overplaying the ball limited the chance to a weak shot from Watson. But the crucial moment came when Luke Hall went down in the box, giving a penalty to Worksop. Liam Hughes stepped up and his powerful effort smashed the back of the net, knocking Stocksbridge out of the Trophy.
