Hillmen through to next round

Glossop North End made the bonfire night trip over the Pennines to face NCEL division 1 side Dronfield Town in the second round / of the Derbyshire FA Senior cup. 

This tie marked Glossop’s first involvement in this year’s competition where 14 teams are vying to progress to the round of the last 16 of the competition where they are joined by 9 teams from step 4 and above in the non-league pyramid.

Off the back of their weekend’s goalless draw manager Richard Brodie made two personnel changes with Marcus Wood available to take his place in midfield replacing the injured Conal Gallagher and Eli Fisher restored to the starting lineup.  This selection saw Phil Perry drop to the bench with October’s fans’ player of the month Dylan McMahon moving to left back and Oliver Mackay moving back in the right back spot where he had featured in early October. 

The first half was a tight affair with Glossop shading possession but their best chances came from set pieces.  A free kick from Reilly stung the gloves of the Dronfield goalkeeper whose best save denied GNE skipper Olly Parker a headed chance from a corner.  Parker’s acrobatics almost brought a spectacular goal with an overhead kick, again from a corner, but his effort was off target.

The home side had their best effort in stoppage time at the end of the first half as a deep cross was turned wide at the far post by Lindores.

Goalless at the break then and as the second half got underway loanee keeper Alex Brown made his first and only real save of note on fifty seven minutes, getting down quickly to his right and turning an effort from midfielder Ord round his near post.

With thirty minutes to go and the hillmen looking for a spark to light up the evening they brought on Keaton Mulvey to play behind Reilly and moved Tom Lawless up alongside the number 9  Two minutes later and Glossop were in front.  Lewis Riley won a header and Lawless, who had timed his run well, was through on goal and although his initial effort was blocked he was able to steer the rebound home to break the deadlock.

The floodgates were opened on seventy two minutes when Glossop doubled their lead.  Another well timed run from Tom Lawless from a pass from Mulvey, saw him beat the offside trap comfortably, despite protests from the defenders who had played him onside, he drew the keeper and unselfishly laid on the easiest finish imaginable for his strike partner Reilly to tap home into an empty net for GNE.

Three minutes later it was three-nil with another link up from the strike partnership..  Another Riley header and Tom Lawless was onto it, although his initial shot was parried by the Dronfield keeper he was able to smash the rebound home.  Two goals and an assist to mark his 50th appearance for the Hillmen was a great night’s work for the young forward.

Manager Richard Brodie brought himself off the bench, replacing Tom Lawless and was involved in winning the second of Glossop’s two penaltiesi in five minutes.  Firstly Keaton Mulvey dropped a shoulder, beat his man and was fouled just inside the box for an obvious penalty.  Lewis Reilly got great purchase on his spot kick drilling it past the keeper for his second and GNE’s fourth. Moments later Brodie burst into the box and was brought down from behind and Reilly was able to complete his hat-rick by drilling the second penalty hard and low for the team’s fifth. 

Glossop continued to dominate the final moments of the game and could, maybe should, have added to their lead but a second consecutive clean sheet and five goals saw the Hillmen, in the end, comfortably through to the next round.

Brodie was pleased with his strike partnership after the game noting that Lawless laying on a simple finish for Riley was a role reversal from Glossop’s second in their defeat to Bury and showed the maturity of the strike partnership.  With several players still to return to the squad, including  Lee Rick whose suspension is now  served, the hillmen will look to build on this result in league action, away to Longridge on Saturday.