Emirates FA Cup
Brighouse Town 4-2 Glossop North End
Young Brighouse striker Luke Parkin with his new manager Paul Quinn
Three red cards were shown as Brighouse Town put ambitious Glossop North End to the sword after an epic Preliminary Round tie.
The volatile replay had more twists and turns than the night’s episode of Coronation Street.
Glossop finished with nine men after losing their discipline, while Brighouse, who had to fight back twice, had Lee Spires sent off.
The first man to leave the field was Glossop’s Matthew Burke, whose night lasted just six minutes. A rush of blood saw Burke grab Brighouse captain Adam Field by the throat, leaving referee Luke Watson to make an easy decision.
It was soon ten versus ten. A Glossop corner saw lots of pushing and shoving in the penalty area and Watson failed to deal with it. The experienced Mark Reed bizarrely jumped onto Spires and hung onto him. The left-back shrugged him off, but the referee deemed it as violent play and awarded a penalty and sent Spires off. Jamie Rainford’s penalty was saved by Tom Taylor, but the former Chester striker converted the rebound.
Because Glossop kept with their dangerous front line of Michael Norton, Reed and Rainford, Brighouse did find it tough to respond. They eventually did as Ben Atkinson rose brilliantly to head home Steve Mallory’s deep in-swinging cross.
With the left-back position unfilled, Glossop found a bit of space to grab a second goal. Jones sneaked down the right and his superbly flighted square ball gave Max Leonard an easy goal against his local and former side. Brighouse quickly changed to four at the back and it paid dividends.
Refusing to lie down, just like in the original tie on Saturday, Brighouse hit back again – this time with a spectacular long range free kick from James Pollard.
Glossop’s self-destruct button was firmly pressed straight after half-time. Goalkeeper Ben Chapman caught a high ball in front of Luke Parkin. As he moved the ball to his chest, an elbow caught Parkin, whether accidentally or not. The Brighouse forward went down in a heap and referee Watson immediately produced the red card and pointed for the penalty. Parkin made a quick recovery and gave stand-in stopper Ben Richardson no chance from 12 yards.
Richardson himself was lucky to stay on the field, along with Norton, after verbally abusing the official. The pair were shown yellow cards.
With gaps emerging, Brighouse had the time and space to push for the killer fourth goal. That came from Fernando Moke, who burst through the middle of the park and coolly beat Richardson.
Glossop had one major glimpse of goal when Norton’s bullet header was heading for the net, until Taylor acrobatically tipped the ball over the crossbar.
What They Said
Brighouse Town manager Paul Quinn
The Teams
Brighouse Town: Taylor, Field, Spires, Illingworth, Hewitt, Pollard, Moke (Buchanan 80), Atkinson, Boafo (Frost 85), Parkin (Robinson 68), Mallory. Subs unused: Hall, Everingham, Tolley, Wallace.
Glossop North End: Chapman, Ali, Richardson, Burke, Parker, Hare, Reed (Mulholland 65), Rainford, Norton, Leonard, Jones. Subs unused: Byrne, Knight.
Who Was In Charge
Luke Watson (6/10)
Watson’s display will divide opinion, especially on the red cards. The first one was certainly correct. The other two were questionable.
How Many Were There
312
Man of the Match
Steve Mallory (Brighouse Town)
Steve Mallory in action for Brighouse Town