Match Report

FC United will face Altrincham in the third qualifying round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy after beating Durham City 3-1 in extra-time at Gigg Lane on Wednesday night thanks to goals from Michael Norton, Jimmy Holden and Astley Mulholland.

Norton put the Reds into the lead after half an hour of the second qualifying round replay but the Citizens levelled moments into the second half through Amar Purewal. It took extra-time goals from Holden and Mulholland to settle the tie at the second attempt.

Right from the off it seemed United had learned their lessons from Saturday’s draw and they controlled the majority of the game from the first whistle.

United’s build up play was encouraging and with Platt and Cottrell together in the centre of the park, the men in red were winning the battles in the middle despite some ‘physical’ challenges coming in from the visiting side.

The best openings in the first half came from either flank as Lee Neville and Carlos Roca looked dangerous but despite this their balls infield weren’t finding anybody in the middle as the Citizens defence did well in clearing their lines.

Roca will have felt he should have had a penalty at 0-0 as a jinky run through the centre of the Citizens defence resulted in the winger being bundled to the floor in the box but it was deemed the challenge was a fair one.

United eventually turned their possession into a goal on the half hour mark, as once again a good attack down the flanks saw a cross from the left which was headed back across goal and into the net from Norton, who netted his fourth goal in the last three games.

The lead should have been doubled just before the break as Platt saw his drive from outside the box parried by Citizens ‘keeper James Winter before Ben Deegan took the ball and saw his own effort saved by Winter before watching the ball drop agonisingly onto the roof of the net.

The first half had been controlled by United. They had kept the visitors to minimal efforts on James Spencer’s goal and the only way back into the game for Durham seemed like it would have to come from a moment of genius or madness. The latter came just two minutes into the second half when Dean Stott mis-controlled the ball on the edge of the box leaving Purewal a golden opportunity to fire the Citizens level.

From that point on the game became a mixture of United building pressure through good possession play, and the visiting team defending resolutely and looking dangerous on the counter attack.

One such counter late on saw Spencer pull off a fantastic save to keep the scores level but for the most part United looked like the team that could trouble the scoreboard once more.

A deep cross from the left only just evaded Deegan’s outstretched leg at the far post and Winter was again called into duty pulling off several good saves to keep the scores level. The pick of the bunch being a fingertip save of a placed Kyle Jacob’s shot which look destined for the bottom corner.

A deep defensive line from Durham with large numbers behind the ball meant that the Reds were left frustrated in the second half and had to make do with long range efforts with a couple from Cottrell testing Winter.

In the dying minutes it looked like Roca was determined for the game not to go to an extra 30 minutes as he took on the visiting defence from both sides but couldn’t find the final product.

An extra 30 minutes was needed and this is where the strength in depth for United came into play. Mulholland and Holden, who had both been brought on with 20 minutes left of the 90, looked the most dangerous players on the pitch and their freshness certainly paid off.

Holden made it 2-1 just three minutes into the extra period as he got his head to a Roca cross from the right and beat Winter at the far post giving United the lead they had duly deserved with their performance.

Once that goal had gone in there was only one team going to win the game and when United were awarded a penalty for a shove in the box early in the second period of extra time it looked like they would be playing out the last minutes with a two goal cushion. But Norton saw his penalty well saved by Winter, who for the second time in four days was having a great game between the sticks.

The two goal margin did eventually come though and the tie was wrapped up with just seconds. Mulholland surged forward from the right to gain space inside the box before firing past Winter to bag his first goal for the club, capping off an impressive performance.

FC United will now face our Conference North neighbours Altrincham in a competitive match for the first ever time, during the weekend of 26th and 27th November with the date and venue to be confirmed but the Reds first face three league games before the next round as they look to build on their current form of four games without defeat.

Website man of the match: Carlos Roca – another good performance from the winger, gave the Durham defence nightmares all night and looked the most likely to break their defence before the end of 90 minutes.

Report by Craig Phillips