REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

Leek Town progressed to the Second Round of the Isuzu FA Trophy with a hard fought victory over a strong Worksop Town team but it was not without some early controversy.

The visitors had what looked like a goal not given before first half efforts from Will Hugill and Tom Carr gave the Blues a 2-0 lead that they resolutely defended with the Tigers 93rd minute penalty proving too late to retrieve the game.

With Worksop going well in their respective Pitching In NPL East this promised to be a tough game and, after having watched the Tigers, Leek manager Neil Baker made a couple of selection decisions that would have initially raised some eyebrows but, to his credit, proved to be tactically very astute.

First of all after scoring two goals at City of Liverpool last week striker Tim Grice was named only as a substitute and replaced by Dan Trickett-Smith with Baker aiming for the guile of Trickett-Smith and pace of Tom Carr and Rob Stevenson causing problems for the towering Worksop central defenders despite Grices aerial attributes. Baker also brought back Danny Roberts into goal for his first start of the season at the expense of Sam Booth given the number of crosses Worksop were seen as delivering for their two huge forwards of Liam Hardy and Liam Hughes and dealing with crosses is one of Roberts particular strengths as a keeper.

The other Leek change from the previous week saw Jessy Bavanganga replace the unavailable Scott Wara at full back.

A crowd of 504 saw the cup tie get underway and the incident that could have changed the course of the game, came after just 40 seconds when from a long Worksop clearance Hughes headed down to Hardy who immediately released the pacy Jay Rollins through on goal with a defence splitting pass. The winger fired across Roberts with the ball striking the inside of the far post and rebounding back out. Rollins wheeled away in celebration with his team mates but the officials waved play on and allowed the game to continue, despite the vigorous protests of the Worksop players. After conferring with his assistant the referee did not award the goal.

It was a major let off for Leek but, thereafter, their game plan of defending the high ball and hitting their opponents on swift counterattacks worked perfectly and was summed up by the two goals they scored.

The first, on 11mins resulted from a ball played to Stevenson who turned inside his man and, spotting a timely burst forward by Will Hugill, played the Burnley youngster through with a neat pass into his path, he took the ball on and slid it under the advancing Sebastian Malkowski to put the Blues one up.

The second on 18mins was as a result of Stevenson again releasing Hugill down the Leek right but this time he played a low first time cross across the face of the Worksop goal looking for Tom Carr. A Tiger defender was in close attendance and as both players attacked the ball it ended up in the net with Carr claiming the goal.

There was still plenty of time for the visitors to get back into the tie and Leek were being made to work to preserve their two goal lead. On 21mins Hugill gave the ball away and the Tigers quickly moved it down their left and Olly Harrison produced a fine block to deny Hardy. Then on 27mins a neat move where Worksop spread the play from right to left resulted in the overlapping full back Josh Wilde finding Hardy with another cross but yet again a Leek defender was able to get something on it to deflect the effort wide.

From the resultant corner another swift Blues counterattack looked as if it had produced a third goal but for a magnificent save from Malkowski. The clearance from the Worksop corner fell to Trickett-Smith who burst forward and after exchanging passes with Carr unleashed a rifling shot that looked destined for the top corner until Malkowski flying to his right somehow managed to get a finger tip on the ball to deflect it over. Josh Ryder met the corner kick with a downward header but it was wide of the post and Worksop had survived.

Leeks tactics were still proving effective. Another rapid counterattack following the breakdown of a Tigers move on 29mins allowed Trickett-Smith to break forward, ride a challenge and square the ball to the supporting Hugill who's effort was deflected for another corner which subsequently came to nothing.

The Blues were dealt a blow on 34mins when Captain Marc Grocott had to be replaced by Ross Davison with a knee injury and on 39mins they were indebted to another bit of good defending by Harrison who managed to get in front of Hughes to clear with a header from a dangerous cross.

But yet again, from the corner, another quick break by the Blues exposed the Worksop defence once more. This time it was Stevenson who got way down the left and as he tried to find Carr in the middle a Tigers defender just managed to put it behind for a corner with a sliding challenge to keep the deficit at two into the break.

LEEK TOWN 2 - WORKSOP TOWN 0 HT

Worksop made a change at the break with Deegan Atherton replacing Reagan Hutchinson and slotting in between the centre half's as the Tigers went to a back three.

The pattern of play did not change to that of the first half however as Bakers astute tactics meant that despite the periods of possession that Worksop enjoyed Leek continued to create the better chances on the break and it proved to be compelling viewing.

On 49mins Stevenson skinned Hamza Bencherif down the left with a fine bit of skill but his cross was just too long for Trickett-Smith. Trickett-Smith was able to retrieve the ball however and cut inside a defender and force Malkowski into a save at his near post. Five minutes later Trickett-Smith was in again after a fine Carr header but this time his touch forced him wide and he could only win what was the first of a series of four Leek corners the Tigers successfully defended although Ryder had a header that sailed over the bar.

For their part Worksop continued with their expected one dimensional approach of trying to get the ball wide and fire in crosses for Hughes and Hardy and the Leek defence of Bavanganga, Harrison, Ryder and Louis Keenan were looking solid and were up for the aerial battle with Harrison again producing a vital headed clearance over his own bar on 64mins after a long throw was flicked on.

Despite the visitors trying to build the pressure Roberts had yet to be forced into a save and Malkowski was definitely the busier of the two keepers as the Blues continued to create chance after chance on the break. On 72mins he pushed wide a low drive from Carr who had been teed up by Trickett-Smith and then saved twice from Stevenson the second being a fine tipped save from a right footed curling effort from the Blues forward after cutting inside from the left on 80mins.

It was no surprise to learn that he had subsequently been named as Worksops man of the match.

Davidson had a great chance to put the tie beyond the visitors a couple of minutes later as a Stevenson cross was cleared to him centrally on the edge of the area but the midfielder drove over the bar before the play was switched to the other end and Harrison deflected a Worksop effort over.

The was the start of a series of corners that the Blues had to defend, which they did admirably and although Worksop players did get on the end of the crosses that were flying in they were always subject to a challenge from a Leek defender resulting in their header flying high or wide.

The game ticked into 6mins of injury time and Worksop were awarded a penalty for a harsh handball decision against Hugill on 92mins. Liam Hughes fired hard and low into the net to make it 2-1 and make it a nervy last couple of mins for the Leek faithful to endure. However the Blues were able to see the game out without any further alarm and progress into the next round of the Trophy.

LEEK TOWN 2 - WORKSOP TOWN 1 FT

A busy week for the Blues on the road as they travel to Trafford on Tuesday night and Witton Albion on Saturday.

Leek Town line up as follows

1. Roberts

2. Bavanganga

3. Keenan

4. Grocott (c) replaced by Davidson (35)

5. Harrison

6. Ryder

7. Hugill

8. Reeves

9. Carr replaced by Grice (86)

10. Trickett-Smith replaced by Brown (90)

11. Stevenson

Substitutes : Booth, Baker, Tomlinson (unused)

Attendance : 504