North Ferriby United

East Riding Senior Cup 
Second Round

Tuesday 13 November 2018
Hall Road Rangers  0   North Ferriby United  1
                                      James Williamson 87

The Villagers gained only their second win of the season in a hard-fought game against NCEL side Hall Road Rangers.

Manager Paul Foot had told his team before the game that Rangers would be doing everything they could to beat The Villagers,

“I’ve been involved in a lot of these East Riding cup ties as a player at Ferriby and I know that every local side wants to beat Ferriby. It’s natural that they all want to beat the biggest non-league club in the area and we are still the senior club despite being bottom of the table. I warned the lads about this before the game.”

Foot’s comments were spot-on because, in all honesty, this was a game that Ferriby should probably have lost, especially after a first-half in which they offered no threat at all to the Rangers’ goal.

Rangers started well and had three good attempts on goal in the opening five minutes with Lewis Exall thwarting Jordan Clark, Josh Vickers and Reece Vasquez.

Ferriby managed to get themselves a little in to the game but their attacks never offered any real threat to keeper Charlie Dixon or his defenders. Alex Wollorton and Charlie Dunkerley combined well on the rightagain but there was a lack of good final balls in to the area from both wings.

Rangers saw a shot cleared form just in front of the Ferriby goal-line but rarely gave Ferriby too much cause for concern despite all their pressure. The home side were disappointed to go off at half-time with the scores still level.

Ferriby’s performance improved in the second-half and it was The villagers who now looked the more dangerous. It was the 65^th minute before Ferriby had their first attempt on target, or off-target, for that matter. It was a Kent Bannister header that went straight to keeper Dixon for him to take comfortably.

Substitute Tom Waudby came close to giving Ferriby the lead with a free-kick that dipped on the top netting with Dixon beaten.

Dunkerley and Gary Bradshaw combined well on the left only to see the former’s shot taken by Dixon.

Ranger’ Jacob Norburn was sent-off in the 79^th minute for bringing down Bradshaw on the edge of the area. The striker had forced his way past Norburn and was left moving towards the centre of the goal with only Norburn to beat when he was bundled over.

Waudby’s shot from the resulting free-kick was deflected for a corner.

With the game seemingly heading towards extra-time,  Two shots were blocked by some desperate Ferriby defending before Frazer Hanson headed narrowly over.

After the game, Foot commented,

“I’m obviously pleased and relieved to get the win. We were fortunate in that they seemed to be more “up” for the game and they were on top for long periods of the game. However, credit to the lads for knuckling down and putting in a gritty performance. Sometimes you have to grind out a result and that’s what we did tonight. We’ve played better this season, even in the short time I’ve been here, and had nothing to show at the end of the game.

“As well as the win, it was good to keep a clean sheet. I’m really pleased for Lewis that we’ve done that. I though Jack Mail did well tonight because he won most of his headers and that helps to relieve pressure at the back.

“Tom Waudby did well again. He made a big difference to us when he came on and he is taking his chance and showing what he can do.

“Will the result change our season? I don’t know the answer to that but it should give us some confidence as we look towards Farsley at weekend.”

For once, Ferriby had some good fortune but they also had the character to grind out a victory on a night when they did not play their best football.

NFU: Lewis Exall, Alexander Wollorton, Jordan Windass, Alex Knox, Jack Mail, James Williamson, Charlie Dunkerley, Eddie Rogerson (Gary Bradshaw 45), James Nichols (Jordan Harrison 61), Callum Harrison (Tom Waudby 45), Kent Bannister. Subs not used: Lance Moyo, Ben Leyland

Hall Road Rangers: Charlie Dixon, Louis Bruce, Jordan Clark, Jacob Norburn, Alex Stock, Reece Vasquez (Ben Vasquez 73), Leon Smith, Kieran Walker (David Watts 89), Josh Tenant (Tom Cracknell 78), Josh Vickers, Frazer Hanson. Subs not used: Charlie Pickering, Lewis Hill