Late goal denies Ossett Town in FA Cup First Qualifying Round clash with Bamber Bridge

Ossett Town 2-2 Bamber Bridge

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos are HERE

Ossett Town chief Craig Elliott refused to be downbeat after an injury-time Chris Fisher own goal earned Bamber Bridge a replay in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round tie at Ingfield.
Fisher deflected Matt Mahoney’s shot into the bottom corner deep into stoppage time to give the Preston-based side a second chance on Tuesday night.
The visitors had taken the lead after 15 minutes through Greg Johnstone before striker Chris Wood scored twice to put Ossett in front at the break.
Ossett struggled to increase their lead and Wood spurned a glorious opportunity to score his hat-trick and seal his side’s passage into the next round with ten minutes to go.

The missed chance would come back to haunt Ossett, but Elliott wanted to focus on the good points.

“I thought we had some good chances in the first half and we had a chance to make it 3-1, but ultimately we didn’t play well in the second half,” he told Sports Performer.
“We were poor in the second half, compared with how we had played in the first. I said to them: ‘yeah we conceded a goal in injury-time, but in the second half we didn’t do ourselves justice’.
“We played well in the first half – we played at a good tempo and created some good chances. I was more than happy at half-time.
“I don’t know why (we didn’t play well in the second half). Maybe we thought it was going to be easy in the second half and these things happen.
“It (dropping deep) is a natural thing to do when you have such a slender lead. I put an extra defender in Patrece to see it out and we weren’t far off. Ultimately it is because we didn’t play well in the second half as we didn’t keep the ball.

“We have to take it on the chin and look at the positives. I got down a lot last year so this year I’m trying to put a positive spin on things. We’re still unbeaten at home, we’re unbeaten in four and we’re still in the FA Cup.

“It is not doom and gloom as we are more than capable of going to Bamber Bridge on Tuesday and winning the game.”

The opening exchanges were played at a frantic pace with Ossett’s highly-rated striker Jimmy Eyles having strike cleared off-the-line by Bamber player-coach Neil Reynolds inside the opening two minutes.

Bamber then enjoyed a purple patch and Town goalkeeper Tom Taylor had made a couple of saves before Lennie Reid’s 18-yard shot came back off the post and fell kindly back for Johnstone to head home.

Taylor had to deny two attempts as Bamber searched for a second goal. Ossett responded against the run of play. Right-back Scott McGrory made a darting run forward and passed to former Farsley AFC striker Gareth Grant on the edge of the penalty area. Grant saw the run of Wood to his left and laid the ball on a plate for the ex-Frickley Athletic forward to slide the ball past goalkeeper Lee Dovey.
With half-time approaching, Ossett went ahead. Lively winger Fernando Moke crossed from the left and Wood was on hand to head the ball into the bottom corner.
As Elliott admitted, the second half was played at a slow pace. Alistair Waddecar wasted a one-on-one with Taylor as Bamber looked to equalise.

At the other end, Eyles broke through and forced a good save out of Dovey. But, the best chance fell to Wood as the game was reaching its closing stages. Dovey was looking to keep the ball in play six yards away from his goal. However, upon diving for it, the goalkeeper lost control of the ball and substitute Kyle Hawthorne moved it away from him and looked for support in the box.

Hawthorne spotted Wood running in and passed. But, with the goal gaping, Wood blasted the ball high and over the crossbar.

That was Ossett’s last chance and Town started dropping deeper and deeper. Elliott brought on much-travelled centre-half Liburd, but the now three centre-halves Fisher, captain Ryan Qualter and Liburd were struggling to deal with Bamber’s long throw tactic.

Ossett survived four attacks before Mahoney created a bit of space and sent a shot towards goal. Taylor probably had the ball covered, but the huge deflection from Fisher diverted the ball into the corner of the net and left Taylor without a hope of stopping it.

Ossett Town: Taylor, McGrory Jeff, Patterson, Fisher, Qualter, Moke (Hawthorne 75), Sharry, Wood, Eyles (Liburd 81), Grant (Fox 67). Subs unused: Wood, Sibenge, Smith, Convey.

Bamber Bridge: Dovey, Bowyer (Marlow 77), Thompson, Doughty, Bonamino, Kay (captain), Waddecar, Mahoney, Johnstone (Haley 71), Reynolds (Wilkins HT), Reid. Subs unused: Lawloer, Alexander.

Referee: C Grundy (Sheffield)

Attendance: 93

Man of the match: Luke Sharry (Ossett Town)