8^th October 2022, Runcorn Linnets FC v Ossett United : 2-1

A home cup draw for Linnets is viewed as something of a novelty, but the Isuzu FA Trophy brought Ossett United across the Pennines on this occasion, as both sides eyed a place in the first round proper.

It would have been new territory for Ossett after their two-club merger to form United.

In the event, Linnets safely negotiated the qualifying stages for only the second time yet they needed to hit back from behind to progress in worthy fashion.

APEC Stadium was bathed in autumn sunshine, as 616 overcame nearby havoc on the road network, to watch Runcorn follow up excellent long-distance away wins at Workington and North Shields, with a third consecutive 2-1 victory in the competition.

Ossett were ahead after just 11 minutes, but even at that early stage, it appeared to be against the run of play.

In a very physical game, which referee George Eaton did well to prevent from descending into second-half chaos, Linnets always looked confident enough to turn it around.

Eden Gumbs levelled the tie after 26 minutes, following up after a great save by Edd Hall, and just four minutes after coming on as a 51st-minute substitute, Dapo Olarewaju clinched what was to prove the winner.

The Yorshiremen had apparently done their homework, and knew that Runcorn like to play with the ball at their feet. That would explain a fast, physical, pressing style that made it hard for Linnets to string together many passes.

Early Runcorn attacks saw Jamie Rainford fouled at the left edge of the area, the free-kick being scrambled away, and Zack Clarke muscled off the ball as he met a corner from the right.

It quickly became clear that Ossett's standout player was Basile Zottos, who wore the 11 shirt, but ploughed a troublesome furrow up the right wing all afternoon.

Isaac Turner made a long-awaited first start for Linnets at left-back, as his captain James Short began a three-match suspension. The 17-year-old earned his corn (sorry), as the main barrier to Zottos' speed and skill on the ball between the halfway line and the right corner flag.

Isaac limited that threat, early on, to two corners in quick succession, which were repelled by Sean O'Mahony and Sam Heathcote. But United kept the ball in the Runcorn third, and a lapse of concentration at the edge of the area gave Oli Metcalfe more than enough time to pick his spot, and find the bottom left corner, out of the reach of 'keeper Danny Taberner.

Linnets looked affronted by the early setback, and they forged forward through Lewis Doyle, Louis Hayes and Sidi Sanogo to open up the Ossett defence. Sidi made his combative presence felt in chasing every loose ball in the middle of the pitch, and there were encouraging signs that we had a referee, for a change, who wouldn't view most of his ball-winning challenges as fouls.

He was fouled himself, just outside the penalty arc, from where Sam Heathcote's free-kick prompted optimistic calls for handball, as it connected with the end of the defensive wall.

High balls and bouts of head-tennis led to a scrappy end-to-end phase, which frustrated Linnets attempts to settle in possession, and they were slightly lucky to survive an Ossett break up the left. Ally Brown was a little slow in chasing a ball up to Brad Grayson, which he seemed to believe would run into touch.

It didn't, and Linnets were lucky that his cross flew a foot too high for the head of Ollie Fearon, who had only Taberner between him and the goal.

Back at the Forest End, Sidi headed into the area in search of Rainford, but it flew long.

Then a free-kick from deep found Sam Heathcote, ten yards from goal, but it bounced awkwardly and his attempted half-volley squirted wide.

Runcorn pressure continued, and it bore fruit after 26 minutes. Sanogo and Clarke combined to provide a ball from the right into a crowded area.

Hall made a great reflex save from Eden Gumbs' shot from six yards, but he was powerless to resist Eden's follow-up, and it was 1-1.

Being back on level terms prompted increasingly ferocious challenges on Linnets in possession, as the home side sought to take control.

Hayes, Doyle and Rainford strung together passes to reach the Ossett area, setting up a Hayes shot that cleared the bar.

The repeatedly tricky efforts of Zottos on the right provided a cross for Grayson, who went sprawling as Ally Brown tracked his progress into the area. Sam Heathcote reacted angrily to the Ossett winger's perceived dive, hauling him up by his shirt. This in turn prompted a protracted pushing and shouting match, involving the majority of both teams.

One yellow card resulted, as Mr Eaton agreed with Heathcote, and Grayson was cautioned for simulation.

A couple of minutes later there was further populous unrest in the centre circle, after Lewis Doyle had pulled back Hollingsworth to prevent an Ossett attack. More pushing and shoving tested the referee's patience, but he limited any retribution to a yellow card for Lewis.

The last ten minutes of the first half featured more fouls and dissent than football, and it seemed that Brad Grayson was keen to earn himself a rest for the remainder of the afternoon.

Having already collected that yellow card, he barely drew breath between remonstrations over every decision made by the referee and his assistant on the stand side.

Eight minutes before the break, Zottos put Grayson into a promising position in the area yet again. Isaac Turner launched a tackle which had to be perfectly timed, and it was. Grayson thought better of depicting it as a foul this time.

In the remaining and added time of the first half, both sides had a half-chance among the niggly tackles.

Doyle's low cross into the area was flicked up by Rainford, over the head of Luke Hogg, but tamely into the hands of Edd Hall. Taberner held on to a Fearon header, from Metcalfe's cross, that was weakened by Sean O'Mahony's challenge.

The referee had earned a half-time brew as much as anybody on the pitch, and the second half was to keep him even busier.

Two minutes into it, a hefty challenge on Lewis Doyle just inside the Ossett half caused another fracas, and it was clear that the rest of this cup-tie was unlikely to be good natured.

Dapo Olarewaju had been warming up to join the action from the re-start, Linnets manager Dave Wild presumably choosing the most interesting moment to shake things up. Fifty one minutes had elapsed when Runcorn fans were as surprised as anybody to see Dapo replace defender Isaac Turner, rather than a wide front man.

He started on the left, with Eden Gumbs dropping into the left-back role he had executed so well recently in the ten-man reshuffle against Bootle. But after a couple of swift breaks up the left, Dapo switched flanks with Zack Clarke.

After a first obligatory foul to prevent his progress up the right touchline, Dapo was picked out by a brilliant ball from Louis Hayes. He cut inside into the area, with Stacey and Beatson wary of launching a challenge that might have conceded a penalty, and spotted a gap to shoot wide of Edd Hall and into the far corner.

The turnaround in home fortunes had taken 45 minutes, and it had two noticeable effects. One was to crank up the volume from the yellow and green throng behind the clubhouse goal. The other was a rising tide of heavy challenges and bad-tempered reactions to them.

Ossett had employed a physically-robust approach from the outset, but Linnets were no shrinking violets, and Ally Brown was the next name to be jotted down by the referee, for a late clatter on Metcalfe.

Louis Hayes went down in pain from a similar contact outside the Ossett area, but it appeared to result from more of a 50/50 coming together.

Another five-minute spell of head tennis between the boxes failed to provide any openings either way, except for a Jamie Rainford ball to Sanogo in the Ossett area.

But it just didn't sit right for Sidi's half-volley. This was blocked from close up, Clarke's follow-up shot ballooning high over the bar.

Ossett replaced Oli Metcalfe with Jack Wilson, and Joe Stacey picked up the next yellow card, for a swipe at Dapo.

The speedy Linnets sub continued to pose problems for the away defence, aided and abetted by Doyle, Hayes and Sanogo's tireless efforts in midfield.

Dapo was soon away again into the Ossett half, right in front of the main stand, when right-back George Thewlis closed in.

My companions and I, up on the media platform, winced when Thewlis' flying tackle was still two or three yards from its target, so obvious was the painful imminent outcome for Dapo.

An outbreak of verbal and physical recriminations was inevitable, and we awaited the disciplinary consequences as Mr Eaton gathered evidence from his nearest assistant.

A single card was shown. The fact that it was only a yellow for Thewlis raised one of very few reservations about a tough job done well by Mr Eaton. That said, his decision to show restraint, in order to avoid an escalation of the indiscipline, was probably a wise one.

After some attention, Dapo was back in action on the right, and was tripped from behind inside the area. Debate about a penalty was curtailed by an offside flag already being raised.

A little more than 10 minutes remained when Dapo's threat was answered by another deliberate foul, a trip from behind by Beatson, just outside the area.

Lewis Doyle's curling free-kick was on target, but Hall was equal to it.

Zottos continued to be Ossett's most potent weapon, requiring two or three men at a time to halt or block his probing runs on the right. When he did manage a couple of aerial balls into the six-yard box, Danny Taberner caught one, and punched away the other.

A precise tackle by Sidi Sanogo robbed Zottos between the corner flag and the penalty area, after O'Mahony and Gumbs had taken great care not to risk a physical challenge inside it.

Sidi's ball-winning efforts, with Mr Eaton more prepared than many of his predecessors to recognise them as legal, and his supporting role to the Linnets attack, deservedly won him the man-of-the-match award. That said, Dapo must have come as close to winning it as a substitute ever does.

Ossett did their utmost to carve out the chance of an equaliser, and five minutes from time they introduced Elvind Johnsen for Hollingsworth, to support a late bid to take the tie to penalties.

They would have fancied their chances from 12 yards, having prevailed in both of the first two qualifying rounds with shoot-outs away from home, against Stocksbridge Park Steels and Sheffield FC.

An Ossett free-kick from 25 yards, for a push on Beatson, was hooked narrowly wide of the left post, with Tabs at full stretch. There were to be no more solid chances for the visitors, as the revised Linnets defence kept the doors locked through the last couple of minutes, and four added by the referee.

Ossett made a final substitution on 89 minutes, when management team Colliver and Ward would have preferred not to have done so. Making the switch only used up time but Alex Phillipson came on for George Thewlis out of necessity, as the full-back was unable to continue due to apparent cramp. Linnets fans let him know that they felt he should have departed around 20 minutes earlier.

In added time, Dave Wild withdrew his assistant Jamie Rainford, in favour of 17-year-old Linnets juniors, youth and Academy graduate Adam Moseley.

There would have been more of an imperative to eat up precious seconds with that substitution, but Adam did make his mark in the couple of minutes available to him.

The inevitable Mr Olerawaju played a neat through ball to Moseley in the area. With the possible option of a shot, he unselfishly passed left to Zack Clarke. A first-time volley might have provided a spectacular finale to the game, but Zack took a steadying touch before shooting, and Luke Hogg had just enough time to block and clear.

The final whistle brought to an end a stereotypical knockout game. Higher on grit, effort and disagreements than on silky smooth football. But rapturous Runcorn celebrations were met by gracious and friendly reactions from the visitors from Yorkshire, both on and off the pitch. After Monday's draw for the first round proper, Linnets will be back in Pitching In NPL West action the following evening, with an away trip to unbeaten Newcastle Town. Runcorn Linnets: Danny Taberner, Ally Brown, Isaac Turner (Dapo Olarewaju 51), Lewis Doyle, Sean O'Mahony, Sam Heathcote, Zack Clarke, Louis Hayes, Jamie Rainford (Adam Moseley 90), Sidi Sanogo Fofana, Eden Gumbs. Subs not used: Josh Roberts, Nialle Rodney, Tom Moore.

Attendance: 616

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