WHEN it comes to cup football they don't come any keener than Accrington Combination Division Two side CDS.

So when I saw they were drawn away to Burnley Belvedere in this first round tie, I was intrigued to see how these upstarts from Accy would fare against such formidable opposition.

With Belvedere having alreay won six out of six games in their West Lancs League Division Two debut season, the home team could be forgiven for being somewhat confident of victory.

And the relaxed mood of their dressing room prior to kick off suggested that CDS would require more than whole-hearted enthusiasm to make any impression on a side who, on paper, should take them to the cleaners.

And that is precisely what happened.

In a bright opening 10 minutes, CDS looked lively and far from being overwrought by the occasion. A Richard Hargreaves pass created an opening for Peter Rowbottom but poor control let Rowbottom down and Belvedere keeper Terry McGinty gathered the ball comfortably.

From then on it was all Belvedere.

What an afternoon the CDS keeper Lee Newsham had.

Though he conceded 11 goals he denied the Belvedere forward line just as many again with a string of breathtaking saves that earned him repeated applause from the Belvedere players.

At times Newsham's penalty area resembled a doctor's surgery on a Monday morning as the Belvedere players queued to get on the scoresheet.

First on the list after 11 minutes was Paul Crorken. He latched on to a Rodriguez flick and crashed the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards. Two minutes later Sean Crorken took a Paddy Connell pass in his stride and slotted home to make it 2-0. On 20 minutes he added a third when his corner was headed back to him by Rodriguez and he hit a brilliant angled shot, low into Newsham's near post from 15 yards.

Rodriguez made it 4-0, heading wide of Newsham from Martin Jackson's long throw and in the 36th minute Paul Crorken got his second when he picked the ball up 30 yards from goal, danced through the CDS defence and tucked the ball into the bottom left hand corner.

Substitute Phil Broughton on for Paddy Connell soon picked up the pace and in the 55th minute powered his way past CDS's Barnes and Rowbottom, evaded Newsham and stabbed the ball home from close range for number six.

A mistake by Newsham, when he misjudged the pace of Rodriguez's long ball, allowed Crorken to steal in and complete his hat-trick in the 60th minute.

Newsham, who now seemed to have decided seven was enough, made three brilliant saves in quick succession.

But Rodriguez, back after a four-week absence, was determined to re-establish himself as Belvedere's number one hit man. He found Sean Crorken on the edge of the penalty area, took the return ball and in true Johan Lomu fashion, bulldozed two defenders and Lee Newsham out of his path, before arrogantly trapping the ball on the goal line and gently tapping it, into the empty net to make it 8-0.

In the 68th minute Newsham got a hand to a rasping drive from Rodriguez that looked destined to find the back of the net, but he could do nothing to prevent the resulting corner from Sean Crorken reaching Craig Elliot and Elliot made it nine with a thumping shot from 15 yards.

Double figures arrived three minutes later when Rodriguez headed down Sean Crorken's cross and Broughton was on hand to steer a shot beyond the reach of Newsham for number 10.

With two minutes left on the clock, Rodriguez finally completed his hat-trick with a driven shot from just inside the area that took a deflection and flew past the despairing Newsham to make it 11-0.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.