FC United knocked out of the FA Trophy at Marske

FC United crashed out of the Buildbase FA Trophy at the first round stage with a 3-2 defeat at Marske United, the same team that knocked the Reds out in 2020/21 with the same scoreline.

This time round, the tie was effectively over inside six minutes with the home side taking a 2-0 lead. The first goal was on two minutes when a freekick was awarded about 25 yards out from goal. Craig Gott fired towards goal, the ball taking a deflection to leave Dan Lavercombe flatfooted and beaten. 

The day got worse four minutes later when a move down the left exposed the FC defence, the cross was tapped home by Adam Boyes to double the tally. 

It could have been worse for the Reds as Marske had many chances to extend the lead, Glen Butterworth was played in, but he fired past the far post, James Fairley fired at Lavercombe and Gott rolled wide when played through.

Halftime couldn’t come soon enough for FC and a change saw Sam Burns replace Aaron Morris. On 50 minutes, Lavercombe had to be sharp to keep out a Kevin Burgess volley but from this point, FC clawed their way back in the game. 

Regan Linney had his side’s first shot on target as he tested Ryan Catterick but the afternoon took another downward turn as a sharp cross from Fairley was unluckily turned into his own goal by centre-back Curtis Jones.

It didn’t take long for FC to reduce the arrears as two minutes later, Linney fired home at the near post of Catterick to give FC a small glimmer of hope. Boyes, a constant thorn in the side went clean through on 71 minutes, but a combination of Lavercombe and Drew Baker ensured that chance went begging.

On 76 minutes, the lead was reduced further when Linney won a penalty which Charlie Ennis fired past Catterick. With 91 minutes on the clock, Ennis look to have found an unlikely equaliser to force a penalty shootout but his long-range shot shaved the corner of the goal and went wide for a goalkick.

This was always going to be a tough game with Marske unbeaten at home and Boyes having scored almost 30 goals already this season, but they would have hoped for a much better start than being two goals down within six minutes, a start that gave the Reds almost no chance of progressing to the next round.

Website man of the match: Curtis Jones. Despite his own goal, Jones certainly stood firm in the first half barrage and did his best to stem the tide.