FC United beat nine man Radcliffe in FA Trophy contest

First Posted ~ 22:33 Tue 29 Oct 2019 News ID ~ 8534 Last Updated ~ 20:31 Thu 7 Nov 2019

FC United will host Basford United in the Second Round Qualifying of the Buildbase FA Trophy after beating nine man Radcliffe Borough at Stainton Park on Tuesday night.Tunde Owolabi scored a first half penalty before Regan Linney sealed victory late on as the hosts’ poor discipline saw the receive two red cards, which cost them the match.The Reds will now host Basford on Saturday 9th November after our first win in the competition for five and a half years.Neil Reynolds’ team started well, Luke Griffiths almost catching out Ollie Martin with a free-kick, the keeper doing well to push the ball wide.On 12 minutes, Jordan Buckley thought he had opened the scoring with a header that beat Martin, but rattle the underside of the bar. The follow up from Chris Doyle saw Martin pull off a great save.FC United took the lead on 27 minutes when a poor header from Matty Hughes let in Owolabi. He was tripped from behind and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Owolabi confidently converted the spot-kick to open the scoring.Just before the half hour, the referee was involved again. The ball was played up towards Danny Mitchley who for some reason caught Doyle with a stray elbow.Doyle went down holding his face, which required several stitches, and the red card was produced. Going to to 10 men seemed to help the home side who had their best spell.A free-kick from Tyrese Sinclair saw FC United goalkeeper Cameron Belford punch the ball clear, it dropping to ex FC captain Harry Winter who should have done better than fire the ball wide.Two minutes into the second half, FC United were awarded another spot-kick when Owolabi was again tripped in the box. He again took the kick but Martin was equal this time pulling off another great save.A minute later, Radcliffe saw red again when former FC United player Scott Metcalfe went in hard from behind on Jack Lenehan. To their credit, Radcliffe stayed in the game, but strong defending from FC United kept them out.With six minutes to go, the game was ended when quick thinking saw FC take a quick free-kick, the ball finding Regan Linney who saw his shot trickle just over the line before being cleared, the assistant flagging for the goal.The win sees FC United set up a tie at home to Basford in the next round and a perfect opportunity for revenge folling the league defeat a couple of weeks ago.Report by Steven WoodWebsite man of the match: Luke Griffiths. Yet again played that deep lying quarterback midfield role to perfection.