FA CUP MATCH REPORT: COUNTY 0 - 1 Rushall Olympic

Phil Jevons: injured and his experience will be missed

By Chris Larkin

Caernarfon Town, Stevenage Borough, Staines Town and now Rushall Olympic - they have all knocked Stockport County out of the FA Cup against the odds and despite being from a lower league.

County lined up with more or less the same team that beat Barrow so convincingly in the week, and within five minutes, they had the first real chance;  Iain Howard trying to find in-form Rhys Turner with a pass across the back. Unfortunately for the Wiganer, his cross was cut out by the Rushall defence.

Again County pressured down the left hand side through Howard but once again his cross couldn't find anybody - a scenario that ended up being a bit of a theme for the day.

With about 15 minutes played Rushall had their first real chance of the game but, mercifully for the Hatters, the ball went sailing over Ormson's crossbar.

County and Rushall both continued to carve out half-chances but neither side could find the first goal though, the closest anyone came was a well struck free-kick from Phil Jevons that was well saved by the visiting goalkeeper.

With 25 minutes of the half played there was a worrying sign as in-form veteran striker, Phil Jevons, had to be replaced due to picking up a knock. The bright side was that he was replaced by Kristian Dennis, himself coming back from injury, with the former Curzon star looking to add to his goals so far this season.

As the half progressed and the crowd became more and more frustrated at County's lack of creativity,  Rushall had two free-kicks in decent positions but the County defence dealt with them comfortably and the game remained scoreless.

The next real chance didn't arrive until just before half-time when Dennis cut in from the right of the box and had a shot that sailed an inch over the crossbar. The final action of the first half really should have seen County at least force a save as some great work from Jacobs saw the ball land at the feet of Howard who blazed over by a couple of inches.

Half Time: County 0 - 0 Rushall Olympic

County made a substitution at half-time with Irish international, Stephen O'Halloran replacing youngster, Scott Duxbury, who just didn't seem to be at the races for the first 45 minutes.

Two great chances for either side in the opening five minutes saw County win a free-kick just outside the area. Dennis did manage to beat the wall but his effort was easily saved by the goalkeeper, before Rushall went up the other end and shot just wide of Ormson's post.

On the hour mark County gave away a free-kick 30 yards out and Rushall's Jimmy Turner stunned the 2,000+ crowd as he fired his strike beyond everyone dropping over a stranded Ian Ormson into the top right corner to give Rushall a 1-0 lead. More worrying for County, it wasn't particularly against the run of play.

For the next 20 minutes, the game was almost all Rushall, thankfully for County though the underdogs couldn't get a second goal to put the game to bed.

County didn't really have a sniff at goal until the last 10 minutes when they got their first corner of the game. Sadly though no-one could get on the end of it. Just two minutes later County had another corner, the ball falling to Ian Craney who couldn't get his shot away, much to the frustration of the crowd.

County had their final chance of the game with a minute to go from a corner but, yet again it went begging.

The minnows from the Evo-Stik league - who wouldn't have even been playing had Gainsborough not fielded an ineligible player in the the previous round - scored a thoroughly deserved victory in a game that County simply couldn't get hold of.

Line-up: Ormson, Jacobs, Charnock, Tunnicliffe, Duxbury (O'Halloran), Moses, Bateman (Craney), Lofthouse, Jevons (Dennis), Turner.

Unused subs: Jones, Fagbola, Windsor, Hand.

Attendance: 2,135 (55 Away fans)