FC United secure a draw at highflying Worksop Town

FC United made it four games undefeated and moved out of the relegation zone with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at third place Worksop Town, thanks to a well-taken first half equaliser by Jay Fitzmartin.  

The Reds fought back from an early setback, conceding to the promotion-chasing Tigers after just six minutes, and the visitors had chances to snatch all three points in an extremely wind-affected match at Sandy Lane.    

Just six minutes in, Worksop number 11, Luke Hall put the hosts into the lead. However, our own number 11, Fitzmartin levelled the scores just after the half-hour mark. The rest of the game wasn’t without chances but neither side were able to capitalise, and Mark Beesley’s Reds take a point home for Christmas.

Beesley made two changes to his starting XI from last Saturday’s 2-1 win at Basford; Jan Palinkas and Adam Le Fondre made way for Joe Ferguson and Jordan Preston, and Gez Sithole was back in the match-day squad, finding a place on the bench.

The Reds showed good character to bounce back after conceding a soft goal in the opening minutes. Vaughan Redford found Hall in space on the left who drilled in a hard, low shot. O’Keefe got down low to save the shot, but it proved too strong and, partly due to the wind, the ball spun into the back the net. 1-0 to the hosts.

Following the goal, FC managed to sustain some pressure on the hosts, with Jordan Buckley earning the first of two back-to-back corners, but goalkeeper Tommy Taylor remained untested.

With the wind on their backs, Worksop, again, subsequently broke down the left flank as Hall found his shot well blocked by Joe Ferguson.

With 30 minutes on the clock, Bolton Wanderers loanee Noah Halford played a perfectly-weighted through ball to split the right side of the Tigers defence. Winger Fitzmartin hounded the ball down, before composing himself, taking a touch, and neatly rolling a shot passed Taylor, into the bottom right corner. Fitzmartin continues his rich vein of form, with a goal contribution in each of FC’s three games this month – two goals and two assists. 

Post the equaliser, FC had the most to say, with Matty Grivosti and Buckley working well down the right to earn more corners, but they were unable to break the deadlock and it remained 1-1 at the halftime interval.  

The visitors came out swinging in the second half. Within seconds of the restart, Charlie Munro picked up the ball just inside the Worksop half, glided past three defenders, into the box, and sent a curling effort just wide of the post. The marker had been set. Two minutes later, Jordan Preston shot from slightly outside of the box was near-identical to that of Munro. 

Much like the Tigers in the first period, the FC left flank received some heavy footfall thanks to the winds. Fitzmartin again skipped past his man and fizzed a cross across the box but Buckley had the ball pinched off his toes by the imposing opposition captain, Hamza Bencherif.

Redford continued to cause issues as he played in Dan Bramall but his shot was comfortably saved by O’Keefe. Buckley then found himself at the centre of a penalty claim after challenging for a skyward clearance. The referee waved away the protests and eventually pointed for a corner-kick to FC after first seemingly giving a goalkick. 

Not long after, Munro lofted in a cross from a free-kick on the right which met the head of loanee, Charlie Hayes-Green, who forced a superb low diving save from Taylor to keep the scores level.

In the dying stages, the hosts tried their luck to steal victory with the majority of their efforts coming aerially, but to no avail. FC United continued to press for a winner until the end, showing tenacity and intensity but were unable to find the all-important breakthrough. Instead, the Reds take a well-earned point back across the Pennines.

Match report by Oliver McKeown