Weekend football round-up: Penalty heartbreak for Curzon in FA Trophy

Our local sides’ interest in the FA Trophy is over after Macclesfield beat Curzon Ashton on penalties after a 2-2 draw at the Tameside Stadium on Saturday.

A short corner led to the Nash taking an early lead courtesy of a drilled Marcus Poscha effort, but the visitors stormed back with a brace from ex-Curzon midfielder Alex Curran, who gave Robbie Savage’s side a 2-1 half-time lead. 

The home team played their way back into the game in the second period, with Isaac Buckley-Ricketts working his magic from out wide.  

He came closest to restoring parity in a blitzkrieg final 20 minutes, when he wiggled between a pair of Macc defenders before clattering a shot against the inside of Max Dearnley’s post. 

More efforts from Buckley-Ricketts, Isaac Sinclair and Luke Griffiths went awry for Curzon, until IBR hit the equaliser in the 6th minute of stoppage time to take the match to spot kicks. 

Jordan Buckley was the unfortunate home player to miss his penalty as Macclesfield made it through to the 3rd Round. 

“We started well getting that early goal, but then we went sloppy giving the ball away,” said Curzon player-manager Craig Mahon.  

“We weren’t really keeping it or doing anything with it, we were going unnecessarily long, and Macclesfield probably deserved to be 2-1 up at half-time. They were the better team in the first half. 

“That first half doesn’t represent how I want to play, and it doesn’t represent how good we are. But in the second half I was much happier. I thought we played some really good football, created a lot of chances and put Macclesfield to the sword. 

“We deserved to get at least a draw out of the game. I’m proud of what they’ve done; obviously no-one likes losing, but I’m a positive person, so I’ll take all the positives I can from this game and bring them into next week.” 

There were reasons to be cheerful on the other side of Ashton, as Ashton United kept their first clean sheet in 15 games to see off a resolute Leek Town 1-0 in the Northern Premier League (NPL). 

Dino Visser was outstanding for the visitors in a goalless first half, denying goal bound efforts from Dan Cowan, Trevon Bryan, Nathan Lowe and Darius Osei. 

However, Osei breached Visser’s forcefield when he slid in to convert a Benny Couto drag-back on 53 minutes for his 12th goal of the season.  

Sean Hogan made a good impression on his debut, the on-loan Bolton Wanderer’s under-18s captain stepping in for the stricken Sam Baird, while former Exeter player Callum Rowe also made his first appearance. Remi Efunnuga, signed this week from Mossley, stayed on the bench. 

The win pushed the Robins into 5th place in the NPL, one point and two places ahead of Hyde United, who came away from their trip to Prescot Cables with a creditable 1-1 draw. 

Captain Jack Redshaw notched his 12th goal of the campaign to draw the Tigers level in the first half, after Ben Elliott gave the home side an 11th minute lead. 

Cables hit the post and had another chance cleared off the line, but Hyde held firm to claim an important point. 

“It was a tough game and it’s a tough place to come, but we’re both decent teams,” said Hyde boss Nick Spooner. “We had two or three chances early on, but we made a mistake and chased the game. 

“I don’t think we really come out in the second half, but at the end of the day it’s a good point.” 

Mossley kept up their impressive form in the NPL West with a 2-1 win at Wythenshawe. 

They had to do it the hard way, though, as Eric Yahaya’s first half red card saw the Lilywhites play for an hour with ten men. The sending off was the culmination of an action-packed ten minutes in which Darrhyl Mason put the home side ahead, before Mason Fawns pulled Mossley level. 

Jack Marrow put in a man of the match performance from full-back, carving out opportunities and scoring the decisive goal on 54 minutes after ploughing into the Wythenshawe box. 

“He was everywhere today, even clearing in the 92nd minute,” Lilywhites manager David Fish said. “I thought he was excellent. He got in so many times and caused them no end of problems – they just couldn’t deal with him. It’s testament to his quality, his work rate, his fitness. 

“Before today we were second top in the home form table, but second bottom in the away form table. We started the game okay, conceded a poor goal, but came right back into it. I felt from that point that we were going to win, even after the sending off.” 

It’s one defeat in nine games for Mossley, who are only outside the play-offs on goal difference. 

It’s almost the opposite for Stalybridge Celtic, who have won twice in nine league outings after they squandered a 2-0 lead at home against Runcorn Linnets. 

Liam Tongue and Jack Irlam gave Jon Macken’s side a dream start, but Will Saxon pulled one back for the away side before the break. 

Linnets took control in the second half, with Adam Moseley and Saxon both scoring within ten minutes of the restart.  

Things went from bad to worse when Jack Tinning saw red for Celtic, who are now three points off the play-off pack having played more games than most of the other teams in contention. 

It was a rare rough day at the office for Glossop North End in the North West Counties League (NWCFL) Premier Division, too. They succumbed to a 5-0 reversal at Lower Breck, the Liverpool-based side hitting four second half goals. 

“There was nothing really in it at half-time, we were 1-0 down from a deflected goal,” said Hillmen player-boss Richard Brodie, who saved most of his ire for the referee and his assistants. 

“Until someone starts having a look at the officials, there’s going to be a massive problem in this game. It’s not just me, and it’s not just because we’ve got beat, they’re just so poor. 

“I’ve got Abdul [Djalo] on the floor for 30, 40, 50 seconds and he waves the play on, and he comes over and gives me a card for asking a question. I had one warning, the linesman said four, so that’s a lie. 

“Second half, we were nowhere near good enough. I can’t remember a clearance that’s gone anywhere near where it’s supposed to be, and we didn’t win a second ball at all. We didn’t win a first ball. We didn’t lay a glove on them. 

“It’s like someone’s stuck a knife in you when one of their players says ‘your team isn’t very good’. That hurts, but we weren’t very good.” 

New Mills went down to their sixth defeat in seven outings, losing 2-0 at Church Lane to high-flying Stafford Town in the NWCFL South. 

George Kattah kept up his outstanding scoring record for Droylsden in the 1st Division North, though. He made it nine goals from as many games as the Bloods moved up to 3rd place with a 1-0 win at home against Maghull. 

Midweek Fixtures (all Tuesday 7:45pm kick-offs unless stated): 
Ashton United v Guiseley (NPL Premier) 
Stalybridge Celtic v Hednesford (NPL West) 
Stockport Town v Droylsden (Macron Cup, 2nd Round – Monday 7:45pm)