1.10.2002

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F.A. Cup 2nd Qualifying Round Replay

Hucknall Town

Cooke (35), Nangle (48), Huckerby (112)

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Hednesford Town

Simkin (63) (penalty), Jones (70), Rae (94)

A moment of madness from goalkeeper Mark Gayle costs the Pitmen a place in the next round of the F.A. Cup, as a dramatic encounter at Watnall Road went all the way to penalty kicks following a late red card for the Hednesford keeper for kicking out on goalscorer Scott Huckerby

 

Saturday's uninspiring encounter at Keys Park had given both managers much to ponder ahead of the replay, with Ian Painter electing to make a number of changes to his side as he continued to look for a winning formula. Wayne Simpson, Carl Adams and Graham Lancashire were restored to the starting line-up in place of Stuart Lake, Shaun Wray and Steve Piearce as Painter rang the changes to his shot-shy side. Kevin Francis was still unavailable due to injury, which meant that the Chris Brindley experiment up front was shelved after two games to enable the centre-back to return to his natural position

 

Phil Starbuck's Hucknall side will have pleased with their efforts at the weekend, frustrating the Pitmen to earn a crack at the Southern Premier League Side on their own patch. Starbuck made only one change to his side by dropping himself to the bench, bringing in Paul Mitchell in his place as Hucknall looked to finish the job at the second time of asking

 

Lancashire - looking to get back amongst the goals after his long lay-off - thought that he had opened the scoring in the third minute as he lashed the ball home from close range, only for the goal to be chalked off for an earlier foul by Brindley on Stuart Hicks

 

A deep cross from Carl Adams was headed wide of the far post by Brindley on nine minutes as the Pitmen continued to press, with Adams himself firing wide from a free-kick against his former club two minutes later following a foul on Lancashire by Steve Prindiville

 

Les Robinson was lucky not to have his name taken by the referee Mr. Vaughan on fourteen minutes, bringing Scott Huckerby down in full flight and incurring the wrath of the official, who gave the veteran defender a dressing down for the challenge

 

Gayle made a good save to deny Mitchell on twenty minutes, tipping a low shot around the post that may have been going wide anyway on second viewing

 

From the resultant corner kick, Prindiville and Mark Nangle both saw snapshots blocked by Hednesford defenders before Simkin hacked the ball away to safety

 

Stuart Ryder tested Ryan Young's reflexes for the first time in the game on twenty-six minutes, heading goalwards from a Ware cross after Adams' corner had been partially cleared, only for Young to see the ball over his crossbar with a fingertip save

 

A neat interchange between Ware and Airdrie sent the winger scampering down the left wing on thirty-one minutes, with Airdrie turning inside Jamie McGowan and driving the ball low into the six-yard box, where Young managed to claim the ball ahead of Lancashire

 

Slightly against the run of play, however, Hucknall took the lead with ten minutes of the half remaining; a long, hopeful ball forwards from Craig Gaunt caught the Pitmen'sdefence flat-footed, allowing Russell Cooke to sneak in and lob the loose ball over the advancing Gayle and into the empty net

 

It almost got worse for the Pitmen three minutes later, as Huckerby broke free down the left and squared the ball into the path of Nangle, who was denied a second goal for the hosts by a combination of stout defending from Brindley and alert goalkeeping from Gayle

 

Richard Lucas played in a long, hopeful free-kick towards the Hucknall penalty area with the final attack of a poor half for the Pitmen which eventually landed at the feet of Airdrie. His trickery saw him gain half a yard on Simon Brown and stand up a cross that was scrambled behind by Gaunt under pressure from Brindley at the far post

 

Painter's no-doubt aggressive team talk at half-time was immediately taken apart by Hucknall, who doubled their advantage with the first meaningful attack of the second period. The Pitmen's defence stood off the Hucknall midfield, allowing Cooke to get a long-range shot away at goal. Gayle - who had had a fine game up to this point - fumbled Cooke's shot in front of him and allowed Nangle to enough time to nip in and turn the loose ball home from close range

 

Hednesford boss Painter had seen enough and made an attacking change on fifty-five minutes, bringing Mark Jones on in place of Lucas, who had been out-of-sorts all evening at left-back. This move saw Ryder move across to full-back to cover for Lucas's absence as the Pitmen settled on a flat back four and two up front

 

Two minutes later, Painter made another substitution by bringing on Wray in place of Airdrie down the left wing in a like-for-like attacking switch 

 

The gamble appeared to pay immediate dividends, as the Pitmen found a way back into the game on sixty-three minutes. Adams sent over a cross from the right towards Brindley, who was fouled in the penalty area by Gaunt as the pair challenged for the ball. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the post, with Simkin stepping up to fire confidently past Young and reduce the deficit

 

With their tails up, the Pitmen pulled themselves level once more on seventy minutes through Jones; Ware was involved in midfield, neatly playing some one-touch football with Wray before playing a delightful through ball into Jones, who had made a clever run through the channels and into the inside-left position. With Young attempting to narrow down the angle, Jones did well to fire past Young from an acute angle for his first goal in ten games and bring the game level once more

 

Both sides had chance to win it as the game entered the final fifteen minutes, with Brindley's header from an Adams corner drifting just over the crossbar and substitute Starbuck testing Gayle with a low shot from range on eighty-two minutes

 

The Pitmen made their final change of the evening with seven minutes left, as Rae came on in place of the tiring Simpson in the anchor role in midfield

 

In added time, Huckerby did well to take the ball past Ryder and cut inside from the right, only to be denied a shot on goal by an uncompromising challenge from the excellent Simkin, who had made a run across the pitch to deny the forward a late chance

 

With no winner found in normal time, the game moved into extra time where the Pitmen found their second wind almost immediately through Rae. Another fine pass from Ware was the key to the move splitting the Hucknall defenders and allowing Rae all the time and space needed to steady himself and fire past Young from the edge of the penalty area to give the Pitmen the lead for the first time in the tie

 

Hucknall looked tired and lacking in ideas at this point, as the Pitmen seemed to have done enough to see the game out with their experienced defence on top form. However, no-one could allow for the rush of blood from Gayle that was to happen with eight minutes of extra time remaining, as the Hednesford keeper completely lost his head with two bizarre decisions; firstly, he made a complete mess of a backpass from Simkin, dwelling on the ball for too long just inside his penalty area and allowing Huckerby time to nip in and dispossess him before slotting into the empty net and make it 3-3. Huckerby picked the ball out of the net and looked to take it back to the centre-circle as the impetus was now with the hosts, a move that enraged Gayle as the two met on the six-yard line. It was all too much for Gayle, who blatantly kicked the forward as he ran past him. Mr Vaughan had seen enough and showed Gayle a straight red card for violent conduct, leaving the Pitmen with no goalkeeper for the final minutes due to Painter having already made three changes. Simkin elected to go in goal for what remained of the game for the visitors

 

Somehow, the Pitmen managed to make it to penalty kicks with Simkin between the sticks, but the defender could not make himself a hero as he could get nowhere near the five Hucknall penalty kicks. The Pitmen also scored their first five kicks, before Ware stepped up for kick number six and fired straight at Young to hand Hucknall safe passage to the next round of the F.A. Cup. For Hednesford, it's a return to league action on Saturday with a home game against Dover, who sit just above the Pitmen in the Southern Premier League table

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Hucknall Town: Young, McGowan, Brown, Lenagh, Hicks, Gaunt (Griffiths 100), Prindiville, Cooke (Gregory 84), Mitchell, Nangle (Starbuck 75), Huckerby     Subs Unused: Tee, Hollingworth 

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Hednesford Town: Gayle (112), Simkin, Lucas (Jones 55), Robinson ©, Brindley, Ryder, Simpson (Rae 83), Ware, Lancashire, Adams, Airdrie (Wray 57)      Subs Unused: Piearce, Jenkins