Saturday 10th October 2020, FA Vase second qualifying round

West 0 (Tinker sent off 72)
Charnock Richard 2 (Carsley 57, Grimshaw 84)
Att: 300

West bowed out of the FA Vase as Charnock Richard scored two unanswered second-half goals at Brookburn Road.

Chris Rowley’s side competed well against their NWCFL Premier Division visitors and could have been ahead at half time, but ultimately the game was decided by two moments of quality from tormentor-in-chief Carl Grimshaw. Brookburn Road also witnessed a fourth red card in three games as Josh Tinker was controversially dismissed inbetween the Charnock goals.

A reshuffled West, with Sam Heathcote dropping back into defence and Stephen Hall operating as a centre-forward, started on the front foot and could have gone ahead inside the opening moments when Hall shot wide from a tight angle. Marcus Dibble then saw a header well-saved by Charnock keeper David Jones, but the visitors grew into the game despite not seriously testing Andrew Jones.

West came closest to an opener in the closing stages of the first period – after Rhain Davis had been brought down outside the box, Sam Heathcote curled his free kick over the wall and off the crossbar. Hall pounced on the rebound but his celebrations were silenced by the assistant referee’s flag.

The visitors were a different side after the interval as they began to assert their authority – Jones was called into action when a Charnock player broke into the box before a header was sent wide of the post. West were now struggling to keep a grip on the game and a heavily-signposted opening goal arrived when Grimshaw collected the ball in the right channel before finding Brad Carsley at the far post, and the Charnock striker had an easy task to find the bottom corner of the net.

Charnock continued to dominate as they hit the woodwork before having a header cleared off the line. Just as Rowley had made a pair of alterations West’s task was made more arduous when Josh Tinker exited the scene, his dismissal infuriating the West players after the right-back was harshly ruled to have elbowed a Charnock player.

West rallied after this setback with substitute Aarron Grewal looking lively on the left wing, but Grimshaw ended the match as a contest with six minutes remaining, curling a shot beyond Jones from 25 yards. The Charnock frontman spurned a chance to add his second moments later when he headed over at the far post, but the Greens had done more than enough to book their place in the FA Vase first round as West’s road to Wembley was blocked off for another season.

West: Jones, Tinker, Hancock, Taylor (Elliott), Dibble, Heathcote, Swift (Grewal), Gavin, Hall, Davis, Gabidon (Ajayi). Not used: Clarke, Delaney, Dale, Ryan .