FA UMBRO TROPHY: First round replay

RADCLIFFE BOROUGH 2 LEEK TOWN 1

(after extra time: 90 mins score 1-1)

DAVE COLLINS jumped off the bench to blast two goals that ensured Radcliffe Borough bounced back from their FA Cup defeat against York City in style.

Collins was the man on target, but all 13 players involved against Leek were party to a character-filled performance that saw the Boro march on along another trophy trail.

The Stainton Park outfit dropped down to their own level and proved, despite their small squad, that they have what it takes to match the best there is.

And they did it, not only after an energy-sapping extra time period in the rain, but with a veteran goalkeeper between the sticks for fully 54 minutes.

Leek are no mugs and the two sides locked horns in an intriguing 90-minute tussle.

The visitors were given a ninth minute boost when former Bury FC trialist James Marrow turned inside Simon Kelly on the edge of the penalty area and fired a rising shot into the back of Danny Hurst's goal.

It was a lead Leek were to hold onto for 65 more minutes as the play swung from end-to-end with both sides finding it difficult to create clear-cut chances, despite some energetic build-up play.

The turning point came in the 54th minute when Boro boss Kevin Glendon sent on the first of his three substitutes, for Eamon Kelly, who replaced transfer target Simon Carden, played his part too from then on in what must rank as one of the Boro's best performances of the season.

Three minutes after stepping onto the turf, Kelly had a shot saved by Leek keeper Mark Statham, shortly after Tony Whealing went close with a deflected effort.

On 64 minutes Leek's Bradley Sandeman made a timely challenge on Neil Hardy, who is also still on one or two clubs' wanted list, right in front of goal as the Radcliffe striker looked to connect with an Eamon Kelly cross. Five minutes later, Collins made his entrance, replacing Ian Lunt. And it took him just five more minutes to pull Radcliffe level when he fired home after being played in by Mark Dempsey's astute, defence-splitting pass.

Veteran Ian Senior was forced into the action in the 76th minute, when Hurst went down with a calf injury.

He made his first save six minutes later, stopping a shot from Leek's highly-rated striker, Darren Twigg, who had a quiet night and was replaced seconds later by David Thornton.

Despite some desperate cries from the cold, rain-soaked crowd, neither side could come up with a winning goal before the referee brought the 90 minutes to an end, and so we went into extra time.

It was all Radcliffe in the first period of this unwanted, but as it turned out, more than watchable action.

Dempsey forced Statham into a save on 93 minutes before the Boro skipper put in a 98th minute cross that saw Scot Wilkson launch himslef into a scissors kick that Statham also stopped well.

Hardy had the ball in the Leek net on 100 minutes from Wilson's cross, but the linesman had his flag up and the effort was cancelled out.

Four minutes later Collins counted in emphatic fashion when he stabbed home Battersby's cross from the left to send the Boro faithful into raptures.

A solid defensive display kept Leek out in the second period of extra time, so much so that Senior was rarely troubled, save from being barged by an over-enthusiastic Leek player as he collected one cross.

The ball ended up out of Senior's arms and in the back of the net, but the referee was already blowing hard for a foul on the keeper.

Accrington Stanley, whose former Boro striker, Paul Mullin, scored a hat-trick against Droylsden last Saturday, come to Stainton Park in the second round on Saturday December 2 -- and that should provide a fair bit of entertainment too!

RADCLIFFE BOROUGH: Hurst 7; Battersby 7, S Kelly 7, Bean 8, Price 8, Whealing 7; Carden 6, Dempsey 7, Wilson 7; Hardy 7, Lunt 6. Substitutes: E Kelly (for Carden, 54 mins) 7, Collins (for Lunt, 69 mins) 7, Senior (for Hurst, 76 mins) 6. Not used: Edwards, Callaghan.