Boston United 0 Kidsgrove Ath 0 - Grove battle to cup replay
Kidsgrove turned in a determined performance to earn a replay against Boston United in the 2nd Qualifying Round of this season's FA Cup. Despite playing the last 20 minutes with ten men after Dave Walker was dismissed, some highly committed defending against the Blue Square North side saw Grove earn a second bite of the cherry at the Seddon Stadium on Tuesday night.
The result means that Kidsgrove will be in the draw for the 3rd Qualifying Round for only the second time in their history; the draw will take place on Monday morning.
In front of a crowd of 817, the highest to witness Athletic play in the FA Cup, Kidsgrove started brightly with some good football giving them the territorial advantage. With two minutes on the clock, Dave Walker played in Tom Urwin, who was brought down just outside the area. Urwin himself took the free kick which was headed clear for a corner. There was then a break in play as Pilgrims defender Tom Ward was injured and had to be substituted.
From a Boston corner on 10 minutes, Walker won the ball well midway inside his own half and broke well, finding Ashley Carter who in turn rolled the ball to Craig Dove, but his cross was too close to Paul Bastock and the goalkeeper comfortably held on to it.
The home side then enjoyed a good spell of pressure with Ben Milnes shooting wildly over the bar, before a free kick for the home side on the quarter hour was only cleared as far as Jordan Burrow who could only scoop the ball over the bar.
Two minutes later, another Boston corner was palmed away by a back-pedalling Steve Hodgson, with the ball eventually finding Dove who hit a high ball forwards which Alan White did well to head back to Bastock under pressure from Walker.
On the half hour, a shot from home striker Chris Hall drifted wide of Hodgson's left hand upright, while at the other end Urwin, having an excellent game, beat three defenders and passed to Walker who saw Sam Hall narrowly beaten to his lay off by the defender.
Alan White then shot over for Boston, and then Hodgson produced an excellent save to keep out Marc Newsham's diving header following Ryan Semple's cross. A minute later the ball was fizzed across the face of Kidsgrove's goal but Danny Smith was on hand to clear the danger.
The first half saw five minutes of time added by the referee and it was Athletic who finished the stronger. Carter broke free down the right but Walker had strayed narrowly offside as the ball was played to him with Kinsey well placed in the area. Another Urwin run then produced an opportunity for Carter, whose shot cleared the bar. In the final action of the half, a Carter corner created havoc in the home six yard box, with Bastock eventually grabbing the ball off the feet of Mark Beeston who was injured in the process.
As a result of the injury to Beeston, he was replaced by Steve Brannan for the start of the second half, and he proved an influential figure in the opening exchanges, winning three corners, from the last of these Andy Kinsey's header hit Walker and went over the bar.
The home side had come out with more attacking intent, and on 52 minutes a deep cross found Newsham, but his shot was smothered by Hodgson at the second attempt. In reply, Urwin launched into another mazy run ending in him firing in a shot straight at Bastock.
With 57 minutes passed, Walker chased a through ball 30 yards out and although he had been flagged offside, left his foot in on keeper Bastock and picked up a yellow card.
Just past the hour, another Milnes cross caused a scramble in the Kidsgrove goalmouth, with the ball eventually being hacked away for a corner and three minutes later a powerful shot from Newsham was confidently caught by Hodgson.
Boston were now exerting increasing pressure on the visitors' goal, and Kidsgrove were finding it difficult to find a way out of their own half. On 72 minutes, Hodgson could only palm across the face of goal, but Andy Taylor and Wayne Johnson showed fine judgment to allow the ball to run out under pressure from two home players.
Athletic's task was made even harder on 77 minutes as Walker was shown his second yellow of the game after kicking out at Kevin Austin on the bye-line. The ten men, however, turned in a terrific rearguard performance as the Pilgrims looked to capitalise on their superior numbers. Almost immediately after the dismissal, Danny Sleath wriggled past several challenges but his shot went just wide.
With ten minutes remaining, Sleath was again in the action as his shot was well saved by Hodgson, but he seemed certain to score as the ball rebounded to him, only to be denied by a superb sliding block from Taylor four yards out.
Boston manager Jason Lee brought himself on for the closing stages, but Grove's defence held firm under a barrage of crosses from the right, to earn a memorable result and a replay on home turf on Tuesday.
Team: Hodgson, D Smith, Taylor, Beeston (Brannan 46), Johnson, Dove, Carter, Hall (Davidson 71), Walker, Kinsey (Griggs 90+1), Urwin. Unused sub: Basford.
