Kirkburton FC crashed out of the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup narrowly losing out 2-1 against Worsbrough Bridge.
With a quarter-final spot at stake against Kiveton Park, the teams were cautious in the first half with both sides wanting to keep possession as they looked to settle into the fixture.
But in the 44th minute veteran striker Brendan Aspinall sparked life into the contest when he beat two defenders on the edge of the area before passing the ball into the bottom corner of Jon Davis’ goal to edge Kirburton ahead going into the half time break.
Worsbrough came out fighting in the second half as they immediately pressed for an equalising goal and Jack Peacock (pictured right) had to be alert just after the hour mark when he made a brilliant save to tip a powerful header over the crossbar.
Burton were left ruing missed chances when substitute Michael Johnson found Shayne Gaffney unmarked in the box, but Gaffney somehow ballooned his shot over the bar from just four yards out.
The home side were almost punished for the missed opportunity just three minutes later, but Luke Atkinson’s toe poked effort rolled agonisingly wide of the target.
Worsbrough finally got the equaliser in the 82nd minute after Burton failed to deal with a corner, which was only half cleared, and when it was played back into the box fell to Callum Cheelam who fired home his shot to make it 1-1.
After the leveller frustration soon got the better of Kirkburton’s Richard Kettlewell when a two footed lunge on Jake Ward earned him a red card in the dying minutes of the game.
With the match finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes the sending off severely ruined Burton’s chances of progressing to the quarter finals as the home side now faced another gruelling 30 minutes a man down.
From the kick off in extra time the visitors almost went 2-1 up when Mitchell Conishaw drove a cross into Cheelam who should have netted his brace, but somehow managed to miss the target from inside the six yard box.
After the scare Burton were resolute at the back but also created chances of their own through young Adam Daffern, who unleashed a spectacular 20 yard strike which sailed narrowly past a post.
In the second half of extra time the man advantage was paying off for Worsbrough as they began to dominate due to the tired legs within the Burton team.
The home side managed to hold out until the 115th minute, but Worsbrough’s Atkinson nipped in behind a stationary back line to slot his shot past Peacock to win the game for the visitors and set them up with a quarter final clash against Kiveton Park FC.
The late goal was a huge disappointment for Kirburton who played brilliantly throughout and had chances to win, but with more performances like this Kirkburton will surely climb their way out of trouble in the West Riding County Amateur Division Two.
