Staveley Miners Welfare made their third trip of the season to Sandy Lane to face Worksop Town in the first round of the 140th ish edition of the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup – the fourth oldest cup competition in the world still in existence.
A team from Staveley has won this competition before in 1879 / 80 when the team of Stephen Doughty, David James and co beat Heeley 3-1 at Bramall Lane but it’s fair to say that the competition has diminished in importance somewhat since then so it was refreshing to see that both teams fielded strong sides and the game was all the better for it.
Worksop Town are widely regarded as the best attacking side in the NCEPL and as predicted had most of the possession in the first half as they set about going for their clubs 13th triumph in this competition but for all that dominance, chances were few and far between.
As early as the second minute the Tigers, Connor Higginson pulled a ball from James Cottingham down from the sky and lobbed Ryan Musselwhite in the Staveley goal but saw his sublime effort hit the angle of post and crossbar and cleared to safety much to the relief of Musselwhite and the travelling Trojan army which once again were present in great numbers.
After 15 minutes Andy Ofosu pounced on a moment of hesitation from Ryan Musselwhite and was able to cross the ball across the box but no one was there to convert it for Town.
Staveley were largely having to soak up the pressure from the home side and hit their opponents on the break much like they had done to great effect on their previous visit (the 3-4 victory at the end of last month) and 20 minutes in a Kurtis Morley flick was cut out by Julian Lawrence just as Courtney Hastings was about to race clear.
Staveleys number 9 in a rich vein of form at the moment fired well wide after half an hour, and then Ellis Wall who seemed “the most likely” to create something for Staveley throughout the night clipped a diagonal crossfield ball from right to left for Kurtis Morley to collect and run down the wing, he found Courtney Hastings in the box whose shot on the turn was blocked by Jack Waddle.
Staveley had their best chance of the half just as it was about to end when Fabian Smith floated a freekick into a crowded Worksop area where Matt Varleys poke seemed destined for the net but for a superb save from Jon Kennedy who, appeared from nowhere to deny Staveleys captain.
Half Time Tigers 0 – 0 Trojans
The second half was much more entertaining but it started badly for Staveley as on 51 minutes Worksop’s James Cottingham broke the deadlock with a 25 yard thunderbolt which gave Ryan Musslewhite no chance. 1-0.
The home side got into their stride, with their trademark brand of up tempo, easy on the eye passing football which at times had Staveley chasing shadows, but for all that they still created very little in the way of actual troubling shots on goal thanks largely to Staveleys desire to stay in it and stick to the game plan, and “while ever its one nil” there’s a chance… which, came when some over-elaborate play from the Worksop defence allowed Courtney Hastings to pounce on an under hit back pass from Jack Waddle and he slotted the ball under Jon Kennedy appropriately in the 66th minute to make it 1-1.
A minute later more Courtney Hastings pressure lead to the ball landing at the feet of Fabian Smith but the industrious midfielder fired wide.
The pivotal moment of the match arrived with 17 minutes remaining, when Courtney Hastings wriggled his way into the box and was grabbed and seemingly clipped from behind by Jordan Cooke just as he was about to strike from four yards out and, with only the keeper to beat he would surely have put Staveley into a 1- 2 lead, but to the astonishment of all the attendees of a Staveley persuasion and no doubt some of those cheering for Worksop the penalty wasn’t given and moments later Hastings was booked for telling the referee exactly what he thought of the decision.
In the last ten minutes it really could’ve gone either way, Connor Sellars went close for Worskop with a freekick as did Adam Ward but he put his shot just wide of the near post and into the side netting. Sellars then fed substitute Matt Steade who crossed for fellow sub Kyle Jordan who forced a brilliant save from Ryan Musslewhite who followed that up with an equally brilliant save from an unbeknown to him offside Ady Ofusu’s follow up shot.
At the other end a clearly incensed Courtney Hastings took it upon himself to try and right the penalty wrong and released Kurt Morley who shot wide then fed Kyle Clarke who in turn found Mohammed Tijani on for Kieran Watson to again curl a shot wide, and lastly Hastings once again wriggled his way into the box and slipped a ball through to Adam Wisdom who won the challenge with the keeper but couldn’t get enough power on the rebound and his weak effort was easily cleared.
Then as extra time loomed Kyle Jordan raced clear down the right and centred for Andy Ofusu to tap home and win it at the death for Worksop Town.
Full Time Worksop Town 2 – 1 Staveley Miners Welfare
Attendance: 243
SMWFC Line Up:1.Ryan Musslewhite.2.Kyle Clarke3.James Leggitt(15.Steve Carty) 4.Fabian Smith.5.Matt Varley.6.Alex Pugh.7.Ross Goodwin.8.Kurtis Morely.(14.Adam Wisdom)9.Courtney Hastings.10.Kieran Watson.(12.Mohammed Tijani) 11.Ellis Wall
Subs Not Used: GK . Jason Fisher
