PHOTO GALLERY & VIDEO: Glossop move a step closer to Wembley
Glossop North End 5, Marske United 2 FA Vase Quarter Final GLOSSOP North End's young team rose to the occasion on Saturday when they thrilled the majority of the 1,120 crowd with a magnificent performance that propelled them into the semi-finals of the FA Vase for the first time.
1120! It wasn't so many years ago that the Hillmen were struggling to raise a gate of 120, and come this Saturday's match with Formby 220 would still be considered a decent crowd.
As such, many teams would have been overwhelmed by such a large audience, but both sides banished the butterflies to provide a scintillating game.
North End started right on the 'W' of the whistle though, and had already forced a first minute corner and seen Rick Bailey have a shot from the edge of the area saved when Dave Hodges collected a second minute throw-in in the area. Back to goal, he twisted and turned to find some space before prodding a right foot shot into the corner of the net.
Ten minutes later it was two when Darren Hamilton out-sprinted the defence to take the ball to the by-line. Looking up, he spotted Bailey in space and cut the ball back to him, Bailey gratefully tapping in from six yards.
Marske were shell-shocked, and Bailey nearly had a chance to make it three. A great build up had given him a chance to shoot from the edge of the area, with the defence seemingly beaten. A goal seemed certain, only for Ross Diamond to superbly slide in and pinch the ball off his toes.
This signalled a sea change as the Seasiders embarked on a spell of pressure that paid off on 21 minutes when Bradley received the ball on the left wing and cleverly beat Jamie Kay. His cross was deflected straight onto the head of Benn Thompson and the nod downwards beat Yates' lunge on the line.
Glossop were now the ones reeling, failing to retain possession and inviting pressure on themselves, and when Young slipped on 28 minutes Newton was gifted a run at goal. The Hillmen were relieved to see his chip from an angle drift the wrong side of the post.
But North End restored the two goal advantage on 29 minutes when a goal kick was flicked on and Bailey beat the back line for pace, and placed the ball into the corner past the advancing keeper.
Towards the end of the half, the game became breathless, and reporters struggled to take notes as the game swung from end to end.
Hamilton forced a great save from Ledgeway when again behind the back line whilst Gotham saved from Diamond, Hodges had a shot cleared off the line, Diamond again slid in just in time to deny Bailey and Gotham managed to get his body behind a Skelton header that appeared goal-bound. It was a tremendous half of football, and already the 5 entrance had been worth the money.
In the second half Glossop again started strongly and Hodges' mazy run beat three, but his shot was weak, Bailey shot wide and Young had an effort saved.
Hodges then hit the post from a very acute angle after fantastic work from Bailey, breaking from one box to the other but seeing his shot cannon off the keeper.
On 61 minutes it was finally 4-1, and again Bailey was involved, getting to the left by-line to cross for Jamie Kay, who had started the move and continued running to head in on the dive.
But Marske were absolutely resilient, and netted their second almost immediately, as Skelton's half volley from the right beat Gotham at the near post.
Again, the game became an end-to-end thrill a minute. Morris just failed to meet a cross with his slide, as at the other end Skelton shot high and wide when presented with an opportunity at the edge of the box.
A Kay free kick was parried, Balfe just couldn't jump high enough to meet a Young cross and Thompson headed wide.
Morris skied a sitter with his wrong foot and Gotham saved at the near post, while Gorton blocked a goal-bound effort with his body and another Diamond shot hit the top of the bar and went over - the crowd knew a goal could come at either end at any time.
In the end it was the home side who netted their fifth, three minutes into injury time, when Bailey capped a superb individual performance with yet another run down the left.
This time his hat-trick-seeking shot rebounded off the keeper into the path of Sam Hind, and the Glossop lad netted to finally seal the tie.
What a game, what a day. Bring on the semi-final!
Glossop: Gotham, Young, Kay, Lugsden, Yates, Gorton, Bailey R, Morris (Hind), Allen, Hamilton (Balfe), Hodges. Subs not used: Whelan, Parker, Bailey T. Attendance: 1,120.
Other quarter final results were:
Whitley Bay FC 5 Biggleswade Town FC 2
Lowestoft Town FC 4 Bideford FC 0
Needham Market FC 1 Chalfont St Peter FC 1.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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