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FC United and Barwell to replay after FA Trophy draw

FC United and Barwell to replay after FA Trophy drawFC United and Barwell will replay at Bower Fold on Wednesday night after a 1-1 draw in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy at Kirby Road on Saturday afternoon.

Callum Byrne scored a well deserved equaliser with 15 minutes to go for the dominant Reds who had fallen behind against the run of play to a Jamie Towers header just before the hour mark.

The Reds controlled the match throughout but once again failed to create clear cut chances to drive home their dominance.

The main talking point of the first half was when Frank Van Gils burst into the box only to be bundled over by a two handed push in the back from centre-back Danny Jenno. Bizarrely, none of the officials felt it warranted a penalty, leaving the FC United faithful somewhat exasperated.

Typically, despite having the lion’s share of possession, United fell behind. A free-kick to the back post wasn’t dealt with and Towers broke the deadlock.

However, the Reds stuck to their task and their short passing football eventually carved open the Barwell defence for Byrne to slot home via a deflection.

FC United started very much on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring when a Liam Brownhill cross was headed narrowly wide by Craig Lingfield.

Dave Carnell was called into action on 36 minutes when Ant Carney shot but it was straight at the FC goalkeeper. Greg Daniels had an opening just before halftime but headed straight into the arms of Liam Castle.

On 59 minutes and against the run of play, the home side took the lead when a free-kick from the right was headed in by Towers. Eight minutes later, the lead was almost doubled when Towers was played in but his shot ran just past the far post.

Despite that the setback and then a let-off, it was FC United making most of the running and on 77 minutes the score was levelled when a Byrne shot from just inside the box was deflected into the far corner.

There were a couple of scares for FC, particularly when Carney burst into the box and pulled the ball back for Malcolm Melvin, but he blasted the ball over.

The home side were reduced to 10 men late on when substitute Callum Woodward was sent off for a dangerous and late challenge on Byrne, within 90 seconds of coming off the bench. A straight red did seem a little harsh.

Deep into injury time, there was a golden chance for FC United when substitute Matt Walwyn was played into the box but he snatched his shot and the ball flew wide.

Website man of the match - Callum Byrne. Very busy performance from Byrne showing some lovely touches and great vision with his passing culminating in the equaliser.


First Posted ~ 17:40 Sat 29 Nov 2014
News ID ~ 5861
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021