24^th September 2022, North Shields v Runcorn Linnets FC : 1-2

After the stirring 2-1 turnaround win at Workington in the previous round, the Isuzu FA Trophy draw sent Linnets on an even longer away haul to the banks of the Tyne, and a first ever meeting with North Shields.

Shields lay ninth in the NPL East Division, having won the Northern League title last season. They had advanced to this second qualifying round with an impressive 3-1 home win over league rivals Pontefract Collieries.

Linnets had secured the services of highly-rated striker James Hooper in midweek, but he was cup-tied, having appeared against Runcorn for Workington in that Borough Park clash of the previous Tuesday.

So the spearhead threat from Runcorn remained at the feet of assistant manager, and current top scorer, Jamie Rainford, with Zack Clarke alongside him.

Eden Gumbs started in place of Dapo Olarewaju, who tweaked a groin muscle in the warm-up. Tom Moore appeared at right-back in place of the unavailable Ally Brown.

The afternoon began with a highly-promising ten minutes of almost continuous Runcorn possession and attacking intent.

James Short and Sidi Sanogo ran a threatening double act up the left. WIthin a minute of kick-off they set up Tom Moore for a shot from 20 yards, this clearimg the bar.

Short's tackle inside the left touchline led to a Sanogo one-two with Clarke inside the area. As Zack shaped to shoot, an offside flag was raised on the far side. It's impossible to say which of the two, Clarke or Sanogo, had prompted it, as there were three North Shields players closer to the goal line than either of them.

Before ten minutes had elapsed, a slapstick mix-up between Shields 'keeper Callum Elliott and centre-back Tom Bexton had the ball looping towards goal, with Zack Clarke chasing in for an attempt to poke it home.

Elliott just managed to retrieve the ball and shepherd it beyond the post, conceding a corner. Sean O'Mahony connected with a powerful header, but was correctly penalised for a push in the back.

The first North Shields foray into Linnets territory took eleven minutes to materialise, with a long through ball on the break, but Regan Patterson pursued it from a position that was way offside.

The Robins are a big side, but the early stages of the game saw Lewis Doyle, Sanogo and Louis Hayes imposing themselves forcibly in the middle of the pitch, determined to establish that they were in charge.

Referee Steven Lawson insisted that he was, and he issued a demonstrative 'final verbal warning' to Shields' Paul Van-Zandvliet, for a two-footed tackle on James Short which hadn't been his first.

But it was Runcorn's Sam Heachcote, who became the first to elicit a yellow card from Mr Lawson and all three issued on the day were to be shown to visiting players. I had to assume that Sam's booking was for dissent at the award of a free-kick for his handball in closing down Cunningham, as the offence itself was nobody's idea of a cynical spoiler.

The free-kick was delivered tamely into the arms of Danny Taberner in the Runcorn goal.

That wasted opportunity came from a handful of Shields attacks on the break. One of them might have put a banana skin under Runcorn ambitions, during a first quarter of the game in which Linnets had dominated possession, not least from winning most of the loose balls, and had shown the bulk of attacking promise.

A scrappier spell ensued, with five minutes or so of long balls both ways, and a first brief period of the hosts keeping the ball. That home possession wasn't to be replicated until the final ten minutes of the game, when Linnets struggled to see off a tie that they really should have had in the bag.

Another mysterious offside flag followed Louis Hayes' attempt on goal from Rainford's pass, when neither player was beyond their penultimate opponent. Frustration was eased by the fact that the shot from Louis had already gone wide.

It sparked a new phase of concerted Runcorn pressure, either side of the half-hour mark.

Rainford's shot was parried and then caught by Elliott, with Eden Gumbs closing in fast, and then Eden himself let fly from the edge of the penalty area, Tom Bexton doing well to get a boot in the way and concede a corner.

That gave Sam Heathcote a chance, from a similar range, Connor Oliver this time providing the blocking boot, and seconds later Heathcote headed just over the bar from Tom Moore's cross.

On 33 minutes, a foul on Tom Moore was forceful enough to remove his boot. His free-kick was met by a first-time Heathcote shot, which flew a foot wide.

A goal was surely coming, or were the Linnets fans beginning to wonder if they would spend the long trek home lamenting one of those days when it just refuses to happen?

But Lewis Doyle had other ideas. After a barnstorming 37 minutes of competing with midfield partner Louis Hayes for man-of-the-match credits, he added himself to the attacking threat. Receiving a pass from James Short on the left, Doyle cut inside along the 18-yard line, and was allowed too much time and space by three successive Shields defenders. He rifled a shot into the far corner, giving Elliott no chance.

Linnets were thoroughly deserving of the lead, and the Shields 'keeper was perhaps fortunate to prevent Sidi Sanogo from quickly doubling it, when Sidi's powerful low shot, after Gumbs had headed back Short's cross, ricocheted off both of Elliott's boots.

This came just after the assistant referee's novel approach to the offside law took a contrary turn. Gumbs was three yards offisde, and barely ten from the official, when he pursued Doyle's through ball without prompting a flag. But it ran too fast for him.

The last action of the half was a close-range Rainford dig that skidded a yard wide, from a corner taken quickly between Short and Clarke.

A chilly breeze from the nearby North Sea had cooled and buffeted the first half, and it was replaced by blinding autumn sun for most of the second.

Linnets started it as they had spent most of the opening half, showing strong ball-winning commitment through the middle third of the pitch, through Doyle, Hayes and Sanogo especially, with Gumbs and Clarke taking it to the North Shields third to carve out openings with Rainford.

The home defence strove to keep those to a minimum, however.

From a scramble in the home area, Rainford looped the ball over the keeper from just inside the left post, but it landed on the roof of the net. Jamie landed awkwardly on a shoulder, but he went on to complete another 80-minute contribution to what was expected to be more a cameo-playing role, when he joined the club in the summer as Dave Wild's assistant.

By the time he gave way to Nathan Corness for the last ten minutes, he had also added another goal to his tally.

It came soon after North Shields had mounted a counter attack that won a corner, repelled by Sean O'Mahony.

Eden Gumbs made the most of his 3pm promotion from the bench with a fast-moving, attacking performance that caused the Robins' defence no end of worries.

The latest of those, almost ten minutes into the half, put Sidi Sanogo in the frame for a shot which rebounded off the right post. Seasoned goal-poacher Rainford needed no more invitation than half a yard of space allowed by centre-half Anthony Myers, and he hooked the ball high into the net from inside the six-yard box.

The 2-0 lead was no less than Runcorn's overall command of the game had warranted. The key difference between the sides had been Linnets' success rate in winning tackles and loose balls, but they had also enjoyed much greater success than Shields in the speed and accuracy of their passing.

North Shields did attempt a rapid riposte to the second goal, winning a corner on the right, but defensive numbers in yellow and green remained largely unflustered. Dan Turner was limited to a shot from wide that might have been a cross, and Danny Taberner, in his least busy game of the season so far, held on to it at ground level.

It seemed that the two-goal advantage would enable Linnets to cement control, and ease their way into the third qualifying round. But the last half-hour didn't unfold that way. Many free-kicks both ways, and regular substitutions by both sides, brought a disjointed flavour to proceedings.

Sam Turner replaced Sam Heathcote, a switch explained later by Dave Wild as an insurance policy, with Heathcote on a yellow card in a game of increasing niggles and rising tempers.

When Lewis Doyle made a heavy challenge on Cunningham near the halfway line, he remonstrated vehemently with the Shields man for, as he saw it, making more of it than it was.

A minute or two ensued of massed handbags, worthy of the Louis Vuitton sale, until Mr Lawson restored order and showed Lewis Doyle a yellow card, as the men in red demanded red. He also cautioned Louis Hayes.

Before the restart, Shields boss Marc Nash replaced Regan Patterson and Dan Turner with Dan Wilson and Brad Hird.

Five minutes of steady North Shields pressure followed, but the reshuffled Runcorn defence, with Turner on the right and Moore now partrnering O'Mahony in the middle, continued to keep Taberner's goal well protected.

Lewis Doyle was bringing the ball out of the Runcorn half once again, when he was sent headlong with a clip to both heels, but the referee saw no foul. That became more curious when, seconds later, he did award a free-kick for an almost identical trip on Van-Zandvliet, outside the right edge of the Linnets area. The kick was wasted, flying long.

Going into the final quarter-hour, both sides made another change. Liam Doyle replaced JJ Crisp for North Shields, and Eden Gumbs curtailed an excellent afternoon's work to make way for Nialle Rodney.

Linnets were allowing their opponents more of the ball than they had done all day. The objective of disrupting the flow might have influenced the timing of Dave Wild's final substitution, with Corness on for Rainford.

Corness combined with Rodney to exert much of the pressure Linnets applied for the rest of the game, but there wasn't enough of it. If the margin had been one goal rather than two, the travelling faithful might have been feeling a bit more nervous.

They did become a little twitchy when the lead was indeed halved, and perhaps felt relieved that there were only three normal minutes remaining.

Louis Hayes took a heavy knock just outside the North Shields area, but played on after physio attention. After that delay, the Runcorn defence was caught cold by a long hoof downfield, which Brad Hird ran on to, leaving him with only the advancing Taberner to beat. He did so, lobbing him coolly to find the right corner of the net.

Four minutes were added to those last three, and they provided an edgy finish to a game that Linnets really should have had home and hosed by the middle of the second half.

'Keep the ball!' was the widespread gist of encouragement from the away fans, but it was North Shields who retained most possession, and fashioned two of their most solid chances of the game.

A corner from the right swerved dangerously towards the far top corner, until Taberner punched it forcefully away. Shields advanced again, and a diagonal shot through the Runcorn area had Tabs diving at full stretch to ensure it went just outside the right post.

The final whistle brought unexpected relief as much as joy in the Runcorn camp, but there was no question that their place in Monday's draw had been well deserved.

The popular wager on that event was that it would bring about a fractionally shorter journey, avoiding the Tyne Tunnel toll, with an away tie at South Shields, as the NPL Premier teams join the competition. It would at least revive memories of a great FA Vase tie there in 2016, when fantastic hospitality softened the blow of a 2-1 defeat, sealed in added time.

That was echoed here at the Daren Persson Stadium, where the gracious and welcoming North Shields hosts included their club president, the former Newcastle United and England striker, Malcolm 'Supermac' Macdonald. A legendary striker, and a charming man.

Runcorn Linnets:Danny Taberner, Tom Moore, James Short, Lewis Doyle, Sean O'Mahony, Sam Heathcote (Sam Turner 59), Eden Gumbs (Nialle Rodney 76), Louis Hayes, Jamie Rainford (Nathan Corness 79), Sidi Sanogo Fofana, Zack Clarke. Subs not used: Isaac Turner, Josh Roberts.

Attendance: 355.

NB. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Runcorn Linnets FC or its Board.