Match Report by
Christopher Sweetman
NEWCASTLE Town face an FA Cup replay after they drew 1-1 with Bedworth United in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup.
Newcastle was looking to continue their excellent unbeaten start to the season against a Bedworth team that had lost both their opening league fixtures.
A win would have meant Newcastle stretched their unbeaten run to their last seven games, including the end of last season.
However, the draw means we must travel to Bedworth this Tuesday for the replay.
Newcastle immediately went on the attack, with Jayden Hunter and Tommy van der Laan combining to force a save from Bedworth keeper Samuel Lomax.
However, they soon went behind as Joe Slinn dawdled too long over a clearance, allowing Khaellem Bailey-Nichols to steal the ball and slot it into an empty net.
The home team were pushing hard to find an equaliser, but some loose passes were letting Bedworth off the hook.
Newcastle was nearly punished further, but Luke Dennis did just enough to put Liam Lockett off his shot.
The home side found their equaliser soon afterwards, with Tommy van der Laan rising highest to meet Ethan Vale’s corner and head past Lomax.
The rest of the half was a scrappy affair with few chances of note this despite Newacstle Town dictating the tempo with possession but not breaking down the final guard, both Hunter and Will Lloyd did both put efforts wide we went in at the break level.
In the second half Bedworth come out to start physical taking out Ethan Vale early with an elbow which was missed by the officials, However, despite this Castle continued to control the game with tempo and ball retention but was limited to getting shots away and limiting Bedworth from getting the ball into the danger area.
Newcastle managed to fashion a few opportunities that could have led to chances, but invariably their final passes were blocked or just overrun a little.
Everything that Bedworth sent down the left side was dealt with by the man of the match Ollie Ritchie and if they come down the right Joe Hurst was on point to stop as well.
The home team had a shout for a penalty for a trip on Lloyd, but he stayed on his feet and the referee waved play on, however, this then resulted in another good chance with Ritchie playing into Conlon who crossed superbly to the back post but Jayden put his header just wide of the post.
As the half continued, Newcastle began to exert greater pressure but the winning goal on the day was just eluding them.
Instead, the game petered out and while Newcastle keep their unbeaten run going, they must now negotiate the replay on Tuesday night.
Newcastle Manager Robin van der Laan:
“We should have won the game, in the second half we should have had a penalty; it was a blatant penalty that the referee didn’t give because our player stayed on his feet and was too honest"
“Sometimes these games are very cagey; we would have lost this a year ago, two years ago even, but we’ve just matured as a group so much more and the quality is there for everyone to see"
“The disappointing thing is, I think [Bedworth’s goal] was probably their only real opportunity or chance in the game if I remember correctly"
“We’re seven games unbeaten now … we are just extending the run, we go in there and that’ll extend the run, that means we come away and we’ll be in the next round.”
The Replay is now on Tuesday night at The Oval in Bedworth with a 19:45 kickoff.
more details can be found on our social media feeds as soon as we have them.