Glossop North End Reach The FA Vase Final

Sat 28th March 2015 | FA Challenge Vase | By Ian Templeman

Glossop North End are Wembley bound despite losing 1-0 to St Austell in the FA Vase semi-final second leg at Surrey Street.

Coming into the game with a two goal lead from the first leg down in Cornwall last weekend, it was a largely comfortable afternoon for Glossop, who controlled the game for long periods despite losing full back Matt Russell to a red card after just six minutes.

But as monsoon conditions descended in the closing minutes, St Austell's leading scorer Liam Eddy ensured a nervous end to the game for the home support with a goal in stoppage time, but Glossop survived the remaining seconds that were left to clinch a 2-1 aggregate win.

The Hillmen will now face Northern League side North Shields in the FA Vase final at Wembley on Saturday 9th May.

In contrast to the sunny conditions last week at Poltair Park in St Austell, the teams walked out into the face of driving rain sweeping down the pitch towards the club house end of the ground, and Glossop kicked off facing into the inclement weather.

But it didn't take long before the skies cleared and early drama unfolded.

In the fifth minute, Glossop created what proved to be one of the best chances of the game, with Jason Carey at the centre of the action.

The big striker, who played with his head heavily bandaged, won the ball in midfield, and a neat exchange of passes with Eddie Moran cut open the St Austell defence and put him through on goal, but St Austell keeper Jason Chapman did well to block the shot with his legs from point blank range.

It was a bright start, but two minutes later Glossop manager Chris Willcock's game plan was thrown into disarray when left back Matt Russell was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Neil Slateford, an incident that took place in front of the St Austell dug out, and led to some views being exchanged between players and coaching staff.

However, while it might have been expected that the incident would spark the game into life, the reverse was the case, as a scrappy midfield battle ensued, although Glossop had the best of the territory and possession, and came close to opening the scoring in the 19th minute.

After the St Austell defence failed to deal with a corner, the ball was returned into the danger area and only cleared as far as Tom Bailey, whose 20 yard volley hit the outside of the post with the keeper beaten.

The closing stages of the first half were played out with Glossop dictating the play, and with St Austell having to overcome a two goal deficit, it was a little surprising that they hadn't shown more inclination to push men forward, especially given their one man advantage.

The visitors did start the second half in brighter fashion, forcing a series of corners, but a lack of height meant that the taller Glossop defenders were able to deal with any threat without having to call on keeper Greg Hall.

But Glossop hit back, and created two chances in the space, with Kieran Lugsden firing over the bar from the edge of the box and then Jason Carey screwed a shot wide after being quickly closed down by the covering St Austell defender Damon Mulready.

On the hour mark, St Austell had a couple of moments that caused some concern in the home camp, when Glossop keeper Greg Hall was almost dispossessed by St Austell's Neil Slateford as he prepared to clear the ball, and although he managed to clear his lines, the keeper then had to react quickly to smother a snap shot from Chris Reski.

As the game wore on, the sky darkened and with 20 minutes to go the floodlights were switched on, as the threat of weather to come began to emerge, but on the pitch it was still pretty comfortable for Glossop, who took every opportunity to slow the game down and keep possession against opponents who increasingly looked like they were running out of ideas.

But as the game moved into the closing stages, monsoon conditions descended over Surrey Street, with torrential rain making passing football an impossibility as pools of water began to appear on the pitch.

As a result, both sides had no option other than to adopt a long ball game, and as the game moved in stoppage time, St Austell's leading scorer Liam Eddy was quick to react to a through ball down the right channel, and from 25 yards unleashed a cracking shot that flew past Greg Hall into the far corner of the net.

It was a moment that stunned the home crowd into silence, and with the unrelenting rain starting to deliver even bigger areas of water across the pitch, the sound of the referee's whistle about a minute later was greeted with as much relief as jubilation by the noisy home support.

Had extra time been needed, the referee would have been left with a big call to make given the saturated state of the pitch, but luckily it was an issue that didn't need to be addressed.

Instead, the Glossop players adapted their post match celebration to suit the conditions, diving face down and sliding towards their supporters on their chests, creating plenty of photo opportunities for the press photographers who had gathered to capture the moment.

Post match reaction to follow......