Linnets held at Avro in FA cup
CALUM McIntyre’s response to a first defeat of the season - at Glossop North End in midweek NPL action - was to make three starting changes for the Emirates FA Cup preliminary round trip to Oldham.
MJ Monaghan and Oladapo Olaweraju replaced Laurence Smith and Eden Gumbs while Sean O’Mahony, unavailable last Tuesday, returned in the centre of defence.
Jacques Welsh moved to right-back, and Ally Brown to the bench.
The visitors took early possession and advanced on both flanks quickly, through Olaweraju on the right and Monaghan on the left. But swift and close marking by the Avro defence resulted in Ryan Brooke cutting a lonely figure in the Runcorn attack.
The game was ten minutes old before Avro achieved any possession in the Runcorn half, Jake Cottrell progressing towards the opposition third before Alex Downes’ timely intervention, while Danny Byrnes made a couple of sideways moves through the Linnets half without finding a teammate in a threatening position.
After twelve minutes, Linnets were gifted the lead. Iwan Murray was pulled back advancing from the centre circle, but still managed to find Dapo wide on the right.
His cross was intended for Ryan Brooke to run on to, but centre-back Lewis Lacy got there first and glanced his interception behind ‘keeper Jordan Latham and into the net.
The fortunate breakthrough promised to encourage the visitors to take control of the game, but the pattern of ultimately fruitless possession down both wings continued. Murray and Dapo exchanged on the right, and Lynch and Monaghan on the left, but Brooke remained a frustrated figure in the middle. The Avro back four and retreating midfield cut off his supply, forcing Brooke to play deep.
Deja vu came early, with Iwan Murray on the receiving end of half a dozen fouls in the first 25 minutes.
The middle of the first half saw Avro making more inroads into Linnets territory. A free-kick conceded by James Short against Byrnes led to a bout of pinball in the Runcorn penalty area, Liam Ellis scooping a shot wide from a seated position.
Then, from the softest of free-kicks just beyond 18 yards, Kane Wallwork fired wide of the left post.
A first Runcorn attack for a while led to Olaweraju going down inside the area, but the referee was unmoved by Runcorn claims for a ‘nailed on’ penalty.
The home side, who have achieved back-to-back promotions to the North West Counties Premier Division, went back on the offensive as Liam Ellis’ hopeful long shot cleared the bar by a distance. Lynch, Murray and Olaweraju
joined in a passing sequence from centre to left to right, Murray beating three opponents before inevitably being wiped out by Lewis Lacy.
His yellow card in the last five minutes of the game was nothing if not belated.
Dapo had another go at breaking down the Avro defence, keeping the ball through three changes of direction while having his shirt pulled throughout by left-back Bailey Sloane, but the referee saw no infringement.
The last attacking burst of the half belonged to the hosts. Massed bodies in the Runcorn penalty area frustrated several hopeful stabs towards goal, until one underhit effort was easily gathered by ‘keeper Joe Young.
At half-time, Linnets fans felt that Calum McIntyre would be disappointed with his side’s failure to take control of the game. It did look as though another goal would be enough. But apart from a long freekick from Young, taken out by the head of Avro centre-half Sam Rathbone, Linnets had not made an impression on the Avro half during the last ten minutes of the half. The second half began as the first had ended.
Runcorn possession was shortlived, and increasingly interrupted by fouls, especially when Iwan Murray had the ball. They were encouraged in their ardour when levelling the score on 50 minutes.
A throw-in on the right allowed a looping header, caught beneath the crossbar by Young. From his clearance the ball was launched back into the Runcorn area, and when Young parried a shot that he might have held, Liam Ellis had little trouble finding the back of the Runcorn net.
There were rumblings about offside, and it was hard to be definitive given that the assistant referee in that half was rarely up with play.
The equaliser inspired its scorers more than their visitors from the league above, and the ball spent very little time in the Avro half up to the hour mark.
An Avro corner from the left resulted in a penalty-area scramble, and after pulling Monaghan to the floor, Wallwork thought he might secure a penalty by falling over himself. He didn’t.
Changes began on the hour, Eden
Gumbs being introduced in place of MJ Monaghan.
He was joined in a more enterprising spell by James Short up the left, and a first move of more than two passes came from the left, Iwan Murray into the area to pull back for Jacques Welsh, but Lacy got there first to clear.
As Runcorn tried to make greater attacking inroads, their hosts were not about to relinquish their grip on level terms, defending in numbers and closing down quickly.
They also added an escalating number of fouls to their armoury, earning yellow cards for Sloane, Lacy and Wallwork.
Dapo Olaweraju was being upended with the frequency usually meted out to Iwan Murray, although Murray too was introduced to the gritty artificial surface with annoying regularity.
One resulting free-kick was destined for the head of Sean O’Mahony 15 yards from goal, but Latham got to it just ahead of him. Jacques Welsh received a yellow card of his own for ‘foot up’ as the ‘keeper cleared.
A spell of Runcorn pressure continued, much of it instigated by Short and Gumbs interacting wide left, and Murray from the right -when he was allowed to stay on his feet.
Lacy brought him down again for a free-kick on 66 minutes. This was slipped to Iwan, whose cross allowed Lynch a powerful shot from behind the penalty spot. The effort was blocked at close range by Rathbone.
Then a Gumbs cross reached the far post, where Latham’s gloves got to it just before the head of Brooke.
Just after this, Sloane and Lacy collected belated yellow cards within a minute for fouls on Crilly and Murray.
Kai Haigh, on for Jack Morrow, fired a powerful shot goalward from 18 yards, but O’Mahony intervened to head out for a corner.
Afuye might then have done better from 12 yards but his shot flew high. Short was brought down by Afuye inside the left touch line with two minutes to go, the free-kick again cleared by the Avro defence, and a follow-up Crilly shot was headed out by Wallwork.
The final chance of the game came from a corner after Crilly’s shot had been palmed around the post by Latham. The flagkick found O’Mahony’s head, but under concerted pressure he couldn’t direct it towards goal. The referee had clearly had enough for one afternoon, adding on not even the two minutes that were dictated by four substitutions as the match finished 1-1.
● Runcorn Linnets claimed a 4-1 victory over Avro on Tuesday night in their FA Cup extra preliminary round replay. They will now face Liversedge at the APEC Taxis Stadium in the first qualifying round on Saturday, September 4.