Whitby Town 1 Stourbridge 1 - Report
Boss Ian Long issued a rallying cry to the Stourbridge faithful ahead of tonight’s (Monday’s) FA Cup replay with Whitby Town – despite being “disappointed” to require one.
The Glassboys drew 1-1 in Saturday’s fourth qualifying round tie at the Turnbull Ground with Aaron Lloyd’s looping finish cancelled out by Matthew Tymon 10 minutes from time.
Long declared himself content with the display but rued Ryan Winwood spurning two late chances to fire the FA Cup kings towards another appearance in the first round proper.
“There was a barrage of high balls that we dealt with pretty well other than the one occasion that they equalised from,” said Long.
“We had two great chances right at the death, Ryan had a shot saved at point-blank range and then a header which went just wide – he should have done better with both really.
“On the whole it is a good result, I think we edged it performance wise and I am just disappointed we couldn’t get the job done.
“It is a short rest period so we may freshen it up. We will get them in for massages and make sure the lads look after themselves between now and then because the rewards are just too big to misbehave.
“Getting through to the first round should be enough of a carrot whoever the winner gets. Hopefully the journey continues a bit longer.
"We want to make sure we get our approach right because the job is certainly not done – Gloucester found that to their detriment in the last round.
“Whitby have form for travelling and getting a result so we have to guard against that.
“We want a packed crowd at the War Memorial to get right behind us, the referee was a right homer in this game and gave them a lot of 50-50 decisions.
“We know we have not been good enough at home on occasion this season and we really want a big crowd behind us for this one.”
Long also singled out scorer Lloyd for praise on the back of recent online criticism of the burly striker.
“I was pleased for Aaron, he has come in for some stick and rightfully so because his performances have not been good enough but he makes us a better side,” added Long.
“That was certainly the case in this one, he got us the goal and was probably our standout player. Long may that continue.”
Glassboys: Wren, Green, Brown, Tonks, Williams, Carter, Bellis, Birch (Winwood, 59), Lloyd, Tilt, Nicholls (Cook, 68).
Unused subs: Landell, Grocott, Turton, Fisher, Price (g/k).
Attendance: 1,171.
