Cup Wins For Basford & Carlton

There was FA Cup success for Northern Premier League Division One Midlands duo, Carlton Town and Basford United on Saturday afternoon, whilst the county’s highest-placed non-league side, Worksop Town, picked up their first point in the National League draw, earning a home draw against Kidderminster Harriers.

Seven Nottinghamshire clubs were involved in the Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round, with Carlton and Basford firing eleven goals between them to progress to the next round, the Millers seeing off hosts Barton Town, and the Millers defeating visitors, and local rivals, Hucknall Town.

In visiting Marsh Lane, the Millers overturned an interval deficit to romp to a 6-1 victory, the Northern Counties East Premier side netting through Lewis Stephens in the third minute; then hosts though were undone in first half stoppage time following a red card for Grant Tait, and were made to pay, emphatically, in the second.

After Niall Hylton had equalised, minutes after the restart, four goals in the space of ten minutes around the hour mark killed the tie off; Nathan Watson gave the Millers the lead on 56 minutes, Ewan Robson bagged a quick-fire brace on 59 and 65, with an Ashley Chambers effort sandwiched between.

The Millers’ third, and Robson’s first of the tie, was the goal of the game when, just before the hour mark, Alex Troke crossed from the right, Chambers dummied, and Robson unleashed a 25-yard effort past the goalkeeper and into the top corner.

Opportunities continued to flow but a sixth did not arrive until the closing minutes when a recycled ball from Robson reached Liam Moran and he completed the rout and put the icing on an emphatic, second half performance.

CARLTON TOWN – Felix Annan, Shea Thompson-Harris, Lewis Burrow, Daniel Brown, Dean Freeman, Ewan Robson, Liam Moran Khyle Sargeant (capt), Ashley Chambers, Nathan Watson, Niall Hylton (Liam Bateman, Greg Tempest, Alex Howes, Oliver Clark, Niall Davie, Kieren Watson, Alex Troke)

Basford United meanwhile also progressed to the next round of the FA Cup, easing to a 5-0 home win over fellow Notts club, Hucknall Town and, as with Carlton, it was to be a devastating, second half performance, that proved decisive.

The Ambers, who were just this past week rocked by the loss of one of their long-term volunteers, Sam Shaw (condolences from ourselves at the Nottingham Sport), put on a showing she would have been proud of.

Goalless at the break, with few chances of note in the opening forty-five, the second half sprung to life in the final half hour when home captain, Henri Wilder, headed home a corner at the back post.

Minutes later and Kieran Cummings had doubled the hosts’ advantage, before Wilder added his second, and the hosts’ third, on 73 minutes, again heading home a corner.

Jack Goodmand made it four with a little over ten minutes remaining, this time with an assist from Wilder, with a fifth being added on 79 minutes via Cummings and his second of the afternoon, firing into an empty net.

As for Worksop Town, in the National League North, their first home game of the season saw the visit of Kidderminster Harriers and, having lost their season opener away to Macclesfield Town the previous week, hopes were cautiously high going into this one.

Both goals came in the first half, the visitors opening the scoring after a couple of minutes, David Davis firing home from the edge of the box; the Tigers snatched an equaliser just twenty minutes later after a free-kick from Joe Leesley was volleyed home by captain Luke Waterfall, the game finishing in a 1-1 draw.