THERE was a massive surprise in the Huddersfield FA Trophy when Newsome Reserves lost their first match of the season.
It was Netherton Reserves, who have won only two of their eight League matches, who took the honours against a Newsome side who hadn’t lost a match in any competition.
The teams had met in the second match of the season and it was an 8-8 draw, with Netherton scoring two late goals to grab a point.
One hour before the kick-off, Netherton’s manager Neil Wood had only nine of his regular team. He had to recruit some third teamers and others who had just been subs early in the season.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Newsome – playing down the slope at Lightenfield Rec – took the lead inside 90 seconds.
They feared the worst, but after 15 minutes Netherton settled and began to fight back to such effect that they edged the game slightly in the last 15 minutes of the half.
The equaliser came 10 minutes into the second half. A ball was played to Ryan O’Connor who controlled and chipped it over the keeper.
Ten minutes later, they took the lead. A crossfield ball found leading scorer and captain, Danny Morton. He beat his marker and then rounded the keeper to score.
As expected, Newsome weren’t going to go down without a fight and as both sides had half chances, the match could still have gone either way.
The killer blow came from Netherton’s full back Josh Scothorne. He found himself in possession on his own six-yard line. He carried the ball forward with the help of a couple of one-twos to the edge of the Newsome box and fired low into the net.
Netherton Reserves now find themselves with a semi-final spot and could face any one of five teams – but whoever it is, they will have to wait until April for the match.
Two of the five Huddersfield FA Cup games only concerned Meltham Athletic and Cumberworth. Both went according to form.
In the Trophy, Meltham Reserves won 2-1 with goals from Bell and Hampshire and the first team completed the double over Cumberworth with a 3-1 win courtesy of goals from Vant and Whiteley(2).
This win puts Meltham into the quarter-finals along with the other two winners. Heyside scored the only goal of the game in their match with Slaithwaite and Lepton’s West Riding team beat Works League Yetton Cask 3-0.
