GROVE EASE THEIR WAY THROUGH IN TROPHY TIE
KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC reached the FA Trophy third qualifying round with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Daventry Town.
Grove went ahead in the 21st minute. A long kick downfield by keeper Kieran Harrison fell to Will Whieldon and he gave James Martin no chance.
They doubled their lead seven minutes before the break when Whieldon laid the ball off to Kingsley Adu-gyamfi on the edge of the box and he bent a superb effort into the far corner.
In the second half Anthony Malbon hit the bar and then Grove were awarded a 66th-minute penalty for a foul. Adu-gyamfi’s effort was saved by Martin, though.
Two minutes later the problems worsened for Daventry when Luke Emery was sent off for picking up two yellow cards. Grove continued to dominate and Adu-gyamfi hit the bar as they easily went through to claim the £2,250 in prize money.
LEEK TOWN won 2-1 at Histon. Histon took the lead in the seventh minute when Danny Gould scored with a low drive from 25 yards - and they held on to their lead until halftime.
After the break the Blues moved up a gear and Dan Trickett-smith, on loan from Port Vale, fired wide.
Leek eventually levelled the tie in the 68th minute when James Kirby found Will Saxon and he slid the ball past Sam Roach.
Penalties seemed a certainty, but deep into time added on Lewis Short found Saxon and he hit a shot into the bottom corner of the net to win it.
NEWCASTLE TOWN had to dig deep to defeat Belper Town on penalties after coming back from 2-0 down to draw the game 2-2 at the Red Industries Stadium.
Belper went in front in the 38th minute when a cross from Nathan Curtis looped over Dominic Kurasik with Steve Mcconnell making sure the ball went over the line.
Right on half-time the visitors doubled their lead when Sam Wright thumped the ball into the net from outside the box.
Castle came out for the second period with renewed vigour and they halved the deficit in the 47th minute when Ryan Mclean cut in from the left and bent a superb effort into the top corner.
Castle equalised in the 58th minute. Joe Berks was fouled 25 yards from goal and he picked himself up to curl the free-kick into the net for a fine goal.
James Melhado hit the post for Newcastle but the game went to penalties.
Newcastle went first and the first nine were all scored, but then
Kurasik was the hero with a save down to his right.
HANLEY TOWN produced a stunning performance to breeze into the FA Vase first-round proper by defeating local rivals Eccleshall 7-0 at Pershall Park, largely thanks to a Kieran Brown hat-trick.
Hanley opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Nathan Okome sent Brown clear and he fired the ball past Aaron Woolrich.
They doubled their lead three minutes before the interval when Callum Feeney threaded a good through-ball for Dan Needham to cut inside and hit a shot into the roof of the net.
It was 3-0 in the 53rd minute when Kyle Stubbs played a one-two with Tom Ashton before hitting a shot that was diverted into the net by Brown.
Straight from the restart Hanley won the ball back and a long ball forward saw Brown race clear to score his second hat-trick of the season.
The visitors still weren’t finished against an Eccleshall side playing their first game and added three more goals in the final seven minutes.
In the 83rd minute a good move down the left ended with Ashton finding the net and three minutes later he turned provider by setting up Okome to net the sixth.
Joe Thompson thumped home the seventh in the last minute, the most goals Hanley have scored in a game since beating Maine Road 8-2 in March 2018.
Hanley will now host Deeping Rangers in the next round.
ROCESTER were knocked out of the competition after going down 3-1 at home to Bewdley Town.
Josh Carpenter put Bewdley ahead in the eighth minute, but five minutes later the Romans were level.
Ben Priest over-hit a back pass that sailed over his keeper’s head for a classic own goal. Bewdley won it with two goals in the last quarter of an hour from Simon Rudd.