20/08/2024
By Chris Gibbs
Four in four for Jones as we go into next round
Newcastle Town 2 (Jones 44) (Avery 65) Assist: Dos Santos (65)
Westfields 0
Yet another Tom Jones FA Cup goal – his fourth in as many games and a second half strike from Jake Avery were enough, as we secured our passage into the first qualifying round of the FA Cup at Buckmaster Avenue last night and earnt a home tie – yes a home tie! – with Long Eaton United a week on Saturday.
Neil Baker fielded four changes from the side that came within a whisker of heading out of the competition on Saturday. In came Saturday’s saviour Tom Jones, George Lewis, Jack Derbyshire and Carlos dos Santos for his full debut and the team responded well.
It was a game that we had good control of for the most part but had to work extremely hard for our opportunities such was the determined approach of our opponents from Hereford.
In fact, it was almost the midway point of the first half before we created our first clear opportunity, when George Lewis did exceptionally well down the right-hand side to get a ball in for Avery to get a shot away, which Westfields did fantastically well to block behind for a corner. From the resultant set-piece dos Santos put in a great delivery which Kyle Stubbs headed narrowly over the bar.
Westfields came with a clear game plan and worked hard for each other and very nearly got to the half time interval at 0-0.However, two minutes before the break, we got our lead. We attacked down the right and after a goalmouth scramble, the ball broke to the very man who seems to be enjoying this competition so much this season. It really isn’t unusual – quite common in fact it seems.
Jake Avery might even have got us a second goal a minute later, but his stooping header was off target. Taking a narrow lead into the break was important though and set us up well for the second half.
We continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession into the second half, but Westfields also carried a threat – Stubbsy having to get a terrific block in to come to the aid of his fellow centre half Tom Thorley and Slinny pulling off a couple of fine saves. Jake Twyford’s presence was also growing in the second half and it was a through ball from Twiggy that set Avery away after 62 minutes – this time the striker’s effort cleared the cross bar.
But on 65 minutes came the decisive moment. Dos Santos capped a fine debut by playing Avery in down the left touchline. Westfields keeper Keiron Blackburn came flying out of his goal, but Jake nipped it passed him and swung a long-range effort in from a tight angle with the keeper stranded to double our advantage.
Avery produced another good save from Blackburn from another Twyford through ball and dos Santos almost marked his full debut with a goal with a fine long-range effort, which flashed just beyond the keeper’s far post.
We couldn’t quite add to our advantage in the closing stages, but it was a job well done and we have now extended our unbeaten start to the season to six games and have a home FA Cup tie to look forward to a week on Saturday.
Team: Slinn, Derbyshire, Woods, (Ritchie 72), T. Van der Laan, Thorley, Stubbs, dos Santos, (Barry 89), Lewis, (Graham 78), Avery, Jones, Twyford, (Baltazar 83).
Man of the match: Carlos dos Santos