Saturday 14th September 2024
Emirates FA Cup
2nd Qualifying Round
West Didsbury & Chorlton 1
Abadaki 44
Darlington 2
Cornish 39
Nelson 68
Attendance: 1,320
West line-up:
1 Martin (c), 2 Kenny, 3 Sutton, 4 Jones, 5 Cole, 6 Hughes (15 Holt 75), 7 Billingsley (12 Darkwah 61), 8 Murray, 9 Abadaki, 10 Lazenbury, 11 Matthews (16 Lescott 73). Not used: 13 Mitchell, 14 Whiteoak, 17 Grimshaw.
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A valiant West side were narrowly defeated by Darlington of the National League North on Saturday afternoon. That result called time on the best FA Cup run in the club's history and will be remembered for a gutsy performance where West truly went toe-to-toe with formidable opponents.
Since the tie was drawn two weeks ago, it always looked like this match would be a challenging proposition. Darlington, who play their football three divisions above West, were on an excellent run of form and had not conceded a single goal in five games. That said, West had turned a corner in recent weeks and optimism was high as a capacity crowd began to filter in to Brookburn Road ahead of kick-off.
That positivity seemed well founded as West enjoyed an early spell of pressure. West were kicking towards a raucous Shed end in the first half and it took a world-class save from the Darlington keeper to deny Jordan Lazenbury's volley just two minutes into the game. That opportunity whipped up what was already a fervent atmospere around the ground and it appeared that there may be an opportunity to catch Darlington cold. However, the visitors quickly showed their quality on the counter by drawing a finger-tip save from Ollie Martin and then hitting the crossbar during a frenetic first fifteen minutes.
The game gradually settled down and whilst West largely looked comfortable in keeping their opponents at bay, Darlington continued to counter where possible and this was how they broke the deadlock in the 39th minute. The goal came from a West corner that was cleared up field and into the path of Matty Cornish. He found himself through on goal before calmly lifting the ball over Martin to give the visitors the lead.
This goal took some of the air out of the occasion and some West fans might have been satisfied to take a one-goal deficit into the break. Any such thoughts were spectacularly dashed five minutes later. Victor Abadaki, who had already scored in every round of this year's tournament, picked up a through ball on the left side of the box. He drove forward before letting rip and his deflected shot fizzed over the goalkeeper to level the scores. It caused all four sides of Brookburn Road to erupt and West were roared off the pitch when the half-time whistle followed a minute later. At that point, the potential for an unfathomable cup upset seemed to be a very real possibility.
The second period started slowly and was without incident until the 66th minute. A long ball over the top fell to Abadaki and he powered past his defender to go one-on-one with the 'keeper. It seemed however that Abadaki was caught between rounding the 'keeper and taking an early shot but this indecision caused him to lose his footing and a golden chance was gone. This disappointment was compounded when Darlington took the lead two minutes later. The scorer was Andrew Nelson as his close-range shot bounced in off the post give West a mountain to climb.
In the end, West had little response to falling behind. Darlington's experience of higher-league football was there to see and they were comfortable in curtailing West's attacking threat in the final 20 minutes. Substitute Donovan Lescott came closest to an equaliser in the final stages when his jinking run down the left wing took him as far as the edge of the six yard box, but his shot was tipped wide for a corner and West didn't trouble the goalkeeper again.
The final whistle came and West were out of the FA Cup. The players left the field to a heroes reception albeit with the lingering feeling that on another day it might just have been a different outcome. Nevertheless, the occasion will be rememered for the jubilant scenes after Abadaki's equaliser and the pride that flowed from the capacity crowd towards a spirited West team who took their opponents all the way.
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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 Nat and her Player of the Match was Tom Murray.
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Browse through our wonderful match galleries, from club photographers:
Nathan Ashmall, Chris Michell, Jack Todd and Christina Bowett.
