Sat, 30 Aug 2008 @ The New Windmill Ground. vs Staveley Miners Welfare (4-0). FA Cup Preliminary Qualifying Round. By D Hucker. Although there was only one goal between the sides at half-time, in the end, this was a comfortable win for Brakes to take them into the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and a tie against Evesham United.
Staveley are two steps below Brakes in the national non-league pyramid so, on the face of it, the match went the way of the form team. It certainly didn't look like a formality for most of the first half, as the intense heat and stubborn resistance of the visitors combined to stifle a lot of the Brakes attacks.
Luke Corbett should have made more of his one-on-one with visiting keeper Rob Poulter in the fourth minute and Mark Bellingham also wasted a golden opportunity, pulling his shot wide of the post with only Poulter to beat.
Poulter was dealing comfortably with most of the Brakes efforts from long-range and, although Jamie Towers was given freedom down the right-hand side to provide a number of inviting crosses, the home forwards couldn't take advantage of the numerous chances coming their way.
Just when it looked as if the match would remain scoreless at the interval, Corbett got on the end of a Towers cross to fire past Poulter with just one minute left on the clock.
Staveley captain Ryan Damms forced Richard Morris into a finger-tip save within two minutes of the re-start, but any chance that the visitors might of had of levelling the match were dashed in the 55th minute. Towers crossed once more from the right and central defender Daniel Robinson bundled over Bellingham on the goal-line and got his marching orders. Bellingham took the resulting penalty kick, but Poulter dived to his right to deny the Brakes striker.
It looked like being a bad day at the office for Bellingham, as he then hit the woodwork four minutes later, but finally got the ball into the net in the 63rd, latching onto a cross from Marcus Jackson, turning and shooting in one movement to beat Poulter low down.
Neil Stacey got the call off the bench in the 76th minute, allowing Guy Sanders to push further forward and the Brakes captain got onto the end of a Martin Hier free-kick, but Poulter comfortably saved his header.
It was another substitute, Shay Morgan, who struck for his first goal of the season when well positioned at the far post to meet a deep cross from James Husband on 79 minutes. To put the icing on the cake, Husband himself capped a fine performance blasting the ball past Poulter from the edge of the penalty area with just two minutes to go.
Jamie Towers was a strong contender for the Man-of-the-Match award, but Husband's goal just tipped the balance in his favour.
Manager Jason Cadden was pleased to get through the tie, saying:
We had some good chances early on and Luke missed a couple before he scored. It was pretty one-way traffic in the second half and we deserved to win. All four goals came from good crosses into the box, something we work on in training.
Brakes Richard Morris. Jamie Towers, Martin Hier, Adam Cooper, Guy Sanders [Capt.], Liam Reynolds (Neil Stacey 76), Marcus Jackson, Jai Stanley, Luke Corbett (Shay Morgan 72), Mark Bellingham (Josh Blake 69), James Husband
Subs Not Used: Stuart Herlihy, Richard Anstiss
Staveley Miners Welfare Rob Poulter, Scott Wharton (Jamie Simpson 53), Lewis Jackson, Joe Storer, Judd Colley, Daniel Robinson, Daniel Payne, Spencer Goff, Ryan Damms [Capt.], Callum Flanagan (Lee Naughton 73), Scott Ellis (Daniel Eborall 82)