Cash for the ‘Nash’ is keeping them afloat
Curzon give Cambridge a serious run for their money
They have a statue of their own ‘holy Trinity’ at Curzon Ashton — commemorating Sir Geoff hurst, Jimmy Armfield and Simone Perrotta, who were all born nearby — though it’s been a struggle in the past few years for an area those legends left behind.
The club have needed imagination and resolve to survive and compete. They play in pink away from home to ensure that there’s never a clash of strips to prevent the sponsors of that second jersey, a local steel stockholder, getting the profile they pay for.
As kick- off approached in an unremitting drizzle, the stadium announcer was encouraging those who had turned up for the club’s big day to consider returning far more often, at a cost of just £8 per game for those who join the membership scheme.
‘Just contact our club secretary about that,’ he urged them, though the official in question, Rob hurst, will need a lie down when this Cup run is over. he was also involved in organising the biggest corporate hospitality the club had ever put on, which received 95 paying customers.
The work ethic was just as evident on the field yesterday where the team they call the Nash (the clue is in the team’s name) gave League One opposition a serious run for their money.
The striker in whom the east Manchester club’s hopes were invested — Tom Peers — had suggested that this game was a simple matter of arithmetic and steel. ‘It’s 11 lads v 11 lads and every one of ours will put a shift in,’ was his observation. But there was rather more to Curzon Ashton than just that.
Peers was a handful — burgling possession and driving into the box to create an early chance for Joshua hancock, who curled his shot over the bar.
No player worked harder than robust midfielder Sam Walker, who capitalised on the greasy surface to slide into half a dozen essential tackles. Captain Craig Mahon, the team’s best operator, was a serious threat from right wing-back.
It was clear from the early stages that this would be no repeat of the FA Cup first round match against League One’s AFC Wimbledon in 2016, which locals around here can still hardly reflect on. Curzon were 3-0 up with just 10 minutes to go but were sunk by four late goals — the winner arriving in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
It should have been Curzon chasing this game, when visiting striker harvey Knibbs was presented with the outstanding chance, spooned wide with the goal at his mercy in the first half.
But the lifeline seemed to convince the home team that a first ever place in the second round — along with the £41,000 from the FA Cup prize fund that winning the tie would bring them — just might be theirs. They edged the first half, with their own enormous moment arriving on the stroke of half-time, when substitute Connor Dimaio crashed over, after William hayhurst had found him in space in the box.
hancock’s miss was also significant, considering how few chances were created. he had scored from a similar position against Boston earlier this season.
But an equally big moment belonged the Curzon goalkeeper Chris Renshaw, a player better qualified than most to tell how clubs like this one can provide a deliverance. Renshaw had seemed destined for the big time after a £120,000 move from Wigan Athletic to everton eight years ago but his football career went nowhere until Curzon came calling. Now the
25-year-old juggles playing for the club with a first-team coaching role at Blackburn Rovers.
his save with his feet to repel a Lewis Simper shot midway through the second half was crucial. There were another two chances for Knibbs, who shot wide and headed over after arriving unchallenged to meet substitute Glenn McDonnell’s cross. Cambridge were certainly left rueing their own profligacy.
At the death, there was almost one of those quintessential FA Cup moments for Curzon. A 95th-minute free-kick 20 yards out on the left, struck flat and low by substitute Jordan Richards, was scrambled desperately away by goalkeeper Will Mannion.
But the National League North side will certainly take Tuesday’s replay, including 50 per cent of the gate receipts, and were praying the game might even be televised. ‘We can earn more money from the replay than this game by a distance,’ reflected chairman Wayne Salkeld. ‘The TV would mean so much for us.’
Salkeld is managing director of a company that shaped the steel used to make Manchester City and Tottenham hotspur’s stadiums, though the look on his face last night suggested he wouldn’t swap Curzon for anything.
‘This Cup run has already earned us £30,000,’ he said. ‘Other teams might say it’s not that much money but it’s keeping us afloat. That’s magical.’