Five-star Bootle march on in FA Cup and set up clash with Skem
FA CUP PRELIMINARY ROUND
TOM Peterson bagged a hattrick as nine-men Bootle beat Silsden to advance into the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and set up a mouthwatering tie with Skelmersdale United.
The Bucks arrived in Yorkshire looking to build on their win over Avro in the previous round and got off to the best possible start when John Connolly fired his side ahead inside the opening 15 minutes.
But to their credit, Silsden hit straight back and levelled through Leon Hurles less than a minute after the Bucks had opened the scoring at the Cobbydale Construction Stadium.
Less than 10 minutes later Bucks restored their lead with Peterson notching his first of the game after racing clear of the Silsden backline.
But Doran’s side were soon reduced to 10 men after captain Liam Loughlin was shown a straight red card for what the referee believed to be a deliberate elbow on Arley Barnes.
The decision seemed extremely harsh but didn’t stop the Bucks from further extending their lead through Peterson before the halftime interval.
But a mistake from Ryan Jones would help Silsden reduce the arrears through Khurram Shazad three minutes into the second half.
Doran’s side, however, would simply dust themselves off and go again, with the impressive Michael Carberry continuing to cause damage down the left.
And it wasn’t long before Ben Hodkinson would add a fourth before Carberry collected his hattrick of assists when his low cross was turned home by Peterson for his third of the game.
But things would end on a sour note for the Bucks when Elliot Richards was given marching orders for using foul and abusive language to the match officials.
Bootle will now face Skelmersdale United in the First Qualifying
Round.
Bootle and Skem met three times last season with a 1-1 draw early in the league campaign before a controversial 2-1 win for United in February which was sadly taken off the records and a week later, Bootle triumphed 3-1 in the Liverpool Senior Cup at the Berry Street Garage Stadium.
The tie will be the first time the two sides have met in the competition and will be the first of two meetings in the space of a month with United due to visit Bootle in the NWCFL Premier Division on October 13.
Bootle lost 3-0 at home to Southport in Tuesday night’s FA Youth Cup Preliminary Round.