Spennymoor United 4 Consett 0
FA Cup Preliminary Round
Spennymoor, Saturday 31 August 2002
  

     

 
 
Spennymoor: 
Shaw 14, 33
Brunskill 18
Jones 51
 Swan
Watson
Lee
Grant
Hutt (Taylor 74)
Robson
Ainsley
Bell
Shaw (Beasley 45)
Brunskill
Jones  		Consett: 



 Colling
McKenna
Davison
Butler
Sugden
Brown (Gordon 52)
Suddes
Thompson (Hutton 78)
McLeod
Hodgson
Lowdon (Smith 80)

 

 

 
 
Consett's participation in this year's FA Cup competition came to an abrupt end at Spennymoor's Brewery Field. As was the case last year Consett got a rotten draw in the Preliminary Round against a Unibond side away (last year it was Kendal), and the outcome was exactly the same this year, a 4-0 defeat.  

Jeff Sugden and Neil Lowdon returned to the side that were on the receiving end of the Bank Holiday defeat at Brandon. Steven Smith dropped down to the bench as Consett reverted to three centre backs.  Andy Colling replaced the unavailable Stuart Kelly in goal.


Moors' keeper clears under pressure from Johnny Brown.

Spennymoor were playing their first game of the season following their FA suspension, and they certainly hit the ground running taking the lead as early as the 14th minute.  A shot from the edge of the box following a corner was saved well by Colling but he could only parry the ball into a ruck of players in the six yard box and Andy Shaw lashed the ball into the roof of the net.  Four minutes later things got worse for the Steelmen as the home side broke away following a rare Consett attack.  Shaw this time turned provider as he squared the ball from the left into the path of Danny Brunskill who made no mistake.  


Lee Suddes gets a cross in.

The Moors' pace and movement up front was causing the Consett rearguard all sorts of problems and as the half progressed the more one-way traffic things became. On the half hour mark Jason Ainsley had a shot from outside the box which took a big deflection leaving Colling stranded but fortunately for Consett the ball flew wide. Within a couple of minutes though the third goal arrived as a free kick from the right wing was swung into the box and Shaw rose above the defence and headed goalwards, the ball spinning up into the roof of the net off the foot of the post.

Almost immediately from the restart it could have been four as Brunskill's run into the box was halted, illegally in the view of the referee, by Johnny Brown.  The penalty award looked harsh as Johnny seemed to win the ball but he was booked for the foul.  Shaw stepped up to take, but threw away his chance of a first half hat-trick by scuffing the spot-kick wide of Colling's right hand post.

Half Time: Spennymoor 3-0 Consett

Any hopes Consett had of a fightback were soon dashed as Spennymoor claimed their fourth goal six minutes into the second half.  A long hopeful ball was played up to the edge of the box which bounced between Moors' Tom Jones and Gareth McKenna.  The ball bounced kindly for Jones and his shot found its way into the net having seemed to take a deflection off McKenna's elbow.


Chris Hodgson is closely watched.

From here on in it was damage limitation and Consett worked exceptionally hard to restrict Spennymoor to just a few further chances.  The Unibond team enjoyed the lion's share of the possession and this was exemplified just on the hour when a move of twenty or so passes culminated in a Leigh Grant effort from the edge of the box skimming narrowly wide.


Spennymoor's Swan snatches the ball with McKenna closing in.

 Andy Colling was also called upon to make one or two good saves, but as the match went into the last quarter of an hour Consett's work rate looked like it might get some reward.  The Steelmen started to get men forward and the introduction of Andrew Hutton's pace meant the Moors defence couldn't rest easy. On 77 minutes, in what was probably the nearest Consett came to a goal, Andrew Thompson went close after managing to get in a shot following a long run from midfield that seemed to have reached a dead end.  

Consett were forced to play out the last five minutes of the game with 10 men as Colin McLeod left the field with what looked like quite a nasty facial cut - by this point all three substitutes had been used.  Still Consett pressed forward though and Hutton shot over the bar from inside the box after a nice move involving Suddes and Hodgson.  In the final action of the game Colling got down well to save a shot on the turn from Brunskill, after which the referee blew for full time.  

Full Time: Spennymoor 4-0 Consett

JPH