Tuesday 1st October 2024
Macron Cup
1st Round
West Didsbury & Chorlton 2
Lazenbury 33
Grimshaw 73
Ramsbottom United 2
Camara 7
Whyte 54
Ramsbottom United win 5-3 on pens
Attendance: 121
West line-up:
1 Martin, 2 Rowney (c) (12 Jones 22), 3 Kenny (15 McConnell 68), 4 Riley, 5 Bailey (14 Moore 59), 6 Hughes, 7 Lescott (17 Matthews HT), 8 Murray, 9 Grimshaw, 10 Lazenbury, 11 Darkwah. Not used: 16 Yarwood.
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West suffered a second penalty shootout defeat of the season on Tuesday night after being dumped out of the Macron Cup by Ramsbottom United.
West manager Paul Marshall selected a strong side to face the Rams and gave a first competitive West start to highly rated centre back Zak Bailey. Unfortunately West's defence was breached early on though when Oumar Camara put the NWCFL Premier Division's early pace-setters ahead after just seven minutes. West looked to respond quickly, wingers Cameron Darkwah and Donovan Lescott both going close to an equaliser within the first quarter of an hour.
West continued to look for openings to get themselves back in the game and the equalising goal came just after the half-hour mark as Jordan Lazenbury stabbed a loose ball home from inside the penalty area. The game then ebbed and flowed without either side creating any clear-cut chances, and 1-1 was a fair outcome at the break.
The second half also yielded relatively few chances. The Rams got themselves back in front courtesy of a Harvey Whyte penalty in the 54th minute, and West offered little in return until a marauding run from Jimmy Moore ended with the West centre-back delivering a plum cross onto the head of Lee Grimshaw to level the scores again with 15 minutes to play. It was Grimmy's third Macron Cup goal for West - no player has more.
A superb low save from Ollie Martin kept West on level terms, but the best chance to settle the game in normal time fell to Billy Matthews, but he scuffed his shot wide when through on goal. The final whistle sounded moments later and the players prepared themselves for a shootout in front of the Rob Turley stand.
The shootout was effectively decided in the first pair of kicks. Ramsbottom scored first to go ahead, but Connor Hughes blazed his penalty over the bar to immediately put West on the back foot. Darkwah, Lazenbury and Grimshaw all converted their kicks for West, but it wasn't enough as Ramsbottom maintained a 100% record from the spot and won the shootout 5-3.
That result means that West have fallen at the first hurdle in their last three Macron Cup campaigns. The league will now be West's main point of focus, and the visit of Barnoldswick Town on Saturday will offer the chance to resume a 5-game unbeaten league run.
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Listen to manager Paul Marshall's post-match thoughts here:
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Your Burton Road Brewing Co Supporter of the Match was Sonny and his Player of the Match was Adam Jones.
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Browse through our wonderful match galleries, from club photographers:
Nathan Ashmall, Chris Michell, Jack Todd and Christina Bowett.
