Lewis On Sport

Darwen continue good home run to progress to next round

The Salmoners enjoyed a pretty comfortable evening as Kenny Langford’s men booked their place in the third round of the Lancashire FA Trophy with a 4-0 against Wythenshawe Amateurs.

The Darwen players wore black armbands and prior to kick-off, a minute’s silence was impeccably observed to pay respect to Committee Member and Programme Editor, Stephen Hart, who very sadly passed away last week. Stephen followed The Salmoners home and away and was an integral part of AFC Darwen family. He will be sorely missed by all. R.I.P ‘Harty’.

Both teams walked out on a cup night under the lights at the Anchor – something that Jose Mourinho didn’t – but definitely should have – included in his famous ‘football heritage’ speech a few years back.

Darwen took the kick-off to get the first meeting of the two sides underway.

With just a few minutes on the clock, Lewis Cumpsty put The Salmoners ahead. It looked as though he was going to square it to a wide-open Creech after he latched on to a promising ball down the right-hand side but the full-back remained calm and converted the opportunity himself, rolling the ball beyond Wythenshawe keeper Samuel Goodwin and into the bottom left-hand corner. 1-0.

Darwen began to establish a firm hold on the game. Langford tried his luck from range and forced a good save from Goodwin. The stopper was again called into his action from the resulting corner – instinctively palming over a flick from Creech.

A decent move culminated in Gibson firing a few yards wide of target. It looked as though The Reds were in the mood to attack.

The game’s fast-tempo was refusing to yield.

Around the 20-minute mark, the visitors began to grow into the game and enjoy more possession but were struggling to create a clear-cut chance.

Wilson-Heyes unleashed a firm strike from the left-hand edge of the penalty area after beating a couple of Ammies defenders. Goodwin was somehow equal to it.

Wilson-Heyes tested Goodwin again, this time the Wythenshawe keeper made a low save down to his right. Darwen had a penalty appeal waved away from the corner that followed.

The game had been end-to-end from the off but as the interval approached, the encounter became more open than ever.

Fieldhouse made a smart save with his right-foot to keep out cross-goal effort before another Ammies forward hit the side-netting.

With 40 minutes gone, a great ball from set Creech away down the right-hand side, he found Wilson-Heyes who remained patient and did incredibly well to side-foot Darwen into a 2-0 lead. A goal was undeniably a just reward for his efforts in this first period.

It was so close to being three just a couple of minutes later, Goodwin fumbled a fierce attempt from Wilson-Heyes before scurrying back to prevent the ball from crossing the line and then managed to get a hand to Creech’s rebound.

On the stroke of the interval, another free-flowing move was finished by Creech. Wilson Heyes, scorer of The Salmoners’ second, fed Creech who slid-in to tap into an empty net. 3-0.

HALF-TIME: DARWEN 3-0 WYTHENSHAWE AMATEURS

SECOND HALF

The visitors got the second half underway and enjoyed much of the ball in the early knockings. A long ball over the top was brought down by Edward Brown – under pressure, he went to ground just inside the penalty area. Hushed appeals were quickly turned down by the referee.

Sam Holt was in the way to block a powerful close-range attempt.

Darwen needed to remain resolute and keep their opponents out of the game.

The travelling fans began to direct some frustration towards the referee. Jeers followed the awarding of a free-kick for a foul committed by Creech.

Wythenshawe’s number 10, Brown, knew he should have done better after releasing a pretty tame effort that went straight down Fieldhouse’s throat from not far out.

Darwen went close to a fourth – a flick from inside the six-yard box dribbled off target.

Fieldhouse made a fantastic full-stretch save to deny Saul Henderson.

The visitors were awarded an indirect free-kick in the left-hand region of the 18-yard box for a pass-back. The Ammies’ effort was too high and frankly wild to trouble Fieldhouse.

With about 25 minutes to go, Darwen had a penalty appeal rightly turned down.

The Salmoners started to have more of the ball again, and a few missed-placed passes from, and a drop-off in chances-created by, the away side suggested that their second-half spell of control was waning. And, moments later, Creech compounded a miserable evening for the Ammies’ with a cool finish that nestled inside the near (right-hand) post. Another lovely passing move from The Reds. 4-0.

Further evidence that it would not be the visitors’ night came in the form of hitting the bar with a strike that quite simply deserved a goal.

To their credit, the away side didn’t lie down and looked to stay competitive in what obviously now a contest that would only have one outcome.

Wilson-Heyes and Creech combined once more – with the latter temporarily putting Darwen five to the good. Unfortunately, the flag was up for offside.

FULL TIME: DARWEN 4-0 WYTHENSHAWE AMATEURS

Despite an improved second-half display from the visitors, The Salmoners always looked in control.

Darwen remain at the Anchor for their return to league action with a clash against Yorkshire side Golcar United on Saturday (20 November). Kenny Langford will want his Reds to prolong further their unbeaten home run.

THE TEAMS

DARWEN

STARTING XI

1. Lenny Fieldhouse

2. Luke Jarrold

3. Lewis Cumpsty

4. Samuel Holt

5. Christopher Lynch

6. Kiel Lonsdale

7. Ben Langford

8. Jamie Gibson

9. Leon Creech

10. Rio Wilson-Heyes

11. Jake Townsend

SUBSTITUTES

12. Alaster Redmayne

14. Matthew Johnson

15. Kallum Banks

16. Christopher Smalley

18. Ryan Steele

WYTHENSHAWE AMATEURS

STARTING XI

1. Samuel Goodwin

2. Dylan Walker

3. Rick Peters

4. Luke Worth

5. Richard Gresty

6. Solomon Wickstead

7. Gabriel Mooney-Munoz

8. Christopher Howard

9. Saul Henderson

10. Edward Brown

11. Samuel Dickov

SUBSTITUTES

12. Erion Bujapi

14. Kaden Barlow

15. Francesco Frangillo

16. Oredi Kibombo

17. Arthur Okonkwo