Nuneaton Town send FC United crashing out of FA Trophy

FC United suffered a 5-1 home defeat to Nuneaton Town in the FA Trophy third qualifying round, bringing an abrupt end to a recent run of four consecutive victories.

The two teams met in the league just over two weeks ago, with FC running out 3-0 winners with what was at the time one of the most impressive performances of the season. Whether that performance created a sense in the players that they could easily do the same again isn’t clear, but what was clear from the start was that the visitors were fired up for the encounter.

The game got off to the worse possible start when Rhys Styche found himself through one-on-one with goalkeeper Dave Carnell, firing home to give the visitors a lead after just three minutes.

And just three minutes later the lead was doubled after a clumsy challenge in the box gifted a penalty to Nuneaton. Joe Ironside stepped up to put the ball away from 12 yards for 2-0.

It wasn’t the one-sided game that the scoreline would suggest for a large part of the game. The Reds nearly found a way back into the game from a long-range Jason Gilchrist effort and a George Thomson free-kick which went inches wide of the post.

But just before the half hour mark, things got worse for the hosts. A clinical through ball split the FC United defence in two and Jordan Nicholson slotted home to make it 3-0.

Watching FC United you often find yourself thinking just one goal would get us back into it and Tuesday night was no exception. A goal early in the second half could possibly put some doubt into the visitors and fire up the home team and crowd. Just three minutes into the second half and Jason Gilchrist finished off a lovely move by the home team to get it back to 3-1.

But it was not going to be one of those famous comebacks that we’ve seen over the years, and despite the early goal the comeback never built any momentum.

A deflected free-kick from David Morgan left Carnell no chance as Nuneaton went 4-1 up midway through the second half. The rout was completed in stoppage time as Carnell could only push a shot back into the path of David Morgan who had an almost open goal to put the ball into.

The Reds now have just two games left in 2016, starting with the visit of Boston a week on Saturday before a short trip to Altrincham on Boxing Day. They will be no doubt looking to put this result to one side and carry on their recent surge of good league form when the Pilgrims come to visit next weekend.

Website Man of the Match: Jason Gilchrist - Took his goal well and went close a couple of times in the first half.

Report by Craig Phillips