31/08/2024
By Chris Gibbs
Castle hang on for narrow win
Newcastle Town 2 (Jones 26, Avery 47) Assists: T Van der Laan, Dos Santos
Long Eaton United 1 (Garnett 22) Assist: Campbell-Gordon
It was an extremely tough examination of our credentials but for the second time in three years, we are through to the second qualifying round of the FA Cup. The last time we reached that stage of the cup we blew a 2-0 lead at Congleton to lose a replay we should have won; this time we will be hoping to extend our run a little further.
It’s fair to say that our opponents Long Eaton can rightly feel a little aggrieved. They came to play and gave a terrific account of themselves, playing some excellent one touch football at times, especially during a first half they dominated.
But by hook or by crook we hung in during a 20-minute period where we were frankly getting battered and once we went 1-0 down, we belatedly started to show what we can do as well.
But first that opening 20 minutes. Slinny was the man to help us get through that tricky spell, a great stop from Liam Loughlan after five minutes when he was unsighted by a shot that came through a ruck of players was a big moment. After 11 minutes Callum Cocks planted a free header at our stopper when he had the whole goal at his mercy.
And then still inside the first 20 minutes, Archie White broke through down the middle, but his attempted toe poke chip was reached by Slinny.
However, there was nothing the big man could do when Ryan Campbell-Gordon got the better of Jack Derbyshire on our defensive right and crossed for Evan Garnett to tap home.
It truly was the very least of what Long Eaton deserved, who were playing some outstanding football, and they might have extended their advantage three minutes later when Cocks’ curling free kick was pushed out by Slinny.
Within a minute, we were level. The visitors’ captain and goalkeeper Lewis King performed wonders to keep out a powerful shot from Tommy van der Laan after Jake Twyford had hit the bar but was powerless to prevent Tom Jones at the second time of asking, who finished brilliantly.
That seemed to spur us on as Jake Avery popped in a cross which Tom couldn’t quite get on target with a very difficult header before a fantastic move was instigated by a brilliant run from Darbs.
Our full back waited patiently for runners before laying the ball back into the path of Carlos dos Santos. Carlos beat his man with a lovely half turn but his placed shot from 20 yards beat the far post as well as King.
Within two minutes of the restart, we were in front and Carlos was at the fore again – this time as provider. He took possession in our attacking third of the field with his back to goal before spinning and laying a lovely pass off to Jake Avery. Our number 9’s finish was emphatic and we had the lead.
Just after the hour mark, we ought to have put the game to bed. Tom Jones, who is truly relishing this competition – having scored in all five of our games so far – hit a cross-cum- shot which was parried by King and dropped right in front of George Lewis with the goal at his mercy. Only George, on as a half time substitute for Jack Sherratt, will know how he ballooned it over the bar.
That should have been that and the miss certainly seemed to energise our east Midland opponents. But we held firm and with a really determined defensive performance, particularly in the last 15 minutes when a lot of crosses were coming into our box, did enough to see us into the next round.
Team: Slinn, Derbyshire, Ritchie, Sherratt, (Lewis 46), Thorley, Stubbs, dos Santos, (Baltazar 79), Van der Laan, Avery, Jones, (Barry 88), Twyford, (Woods 89).
Man of the match: Tom Thorley – the 23-year-old is starting to forge a strong partnership with Kyle Stubbs at centre half and his physicality and strong tackling were vital as we defended our narrow lead in the closing stages.
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