Super sub Alfie Dodsworth grabbed the headlines with a second half hat trick as The Ambers kicked off their S&H Senior Cup campaign with a 7-2 victory against Wombwell Main in an official Away fixture that, because of a waterlogged pitch in Wombwell, was reversed and played at The Express Worktops Stadium.
A much changed Ambers line up included recalls for Ozzie Radford, Johno Williams, Craig Nelthorpe, Tom Bishop and Brandon Bagley, and it was the latter who caught the eye in the early stages of the game with some good footwork and strong running down the left flank.
However, the first opportunity fell to Main when an uncharacteristic error by Dylan Parkin presented the ball to an opponent whose attempted lob over the keeper was palmed away before the ball was eventually cleared out of the box.
Bagley then saw his long range effort pushed wide by Wombwell stopper Mernenko, before Bishop tried his luck from the edge of the box, but his shot missed the far post. The Ambers were dominating the early exchanges and Mernenko had to get down quickly at his near post to keep out a close-range effort by Mike Trench after good work by Bagley and Williams had created the chance.
Main though were always ready to spring forward and a good 2 on 1 opportunity was wasted, before a very tight offside decision against Burman rescued The Ambers after Cowsell threaded a pass through to him.
Despite being well on top, The Ambers were finding it difficult to get beyond the Main backline and were being kept at bay, with Bishop, Aaron Moxam, Radford, Nelthorpe and Bagley all trying their luck from distance in quick succession, but to no avail.
Eventually, the breakthrough came on 35 minutes, when, after Moxam was fouled on the edge of the area, Williams directed his free kick past Mernenko and into the bottom corner of the net, but The Ambers’ delight lasted less than a minute, as Burman’s speculative effort took a wicked deflection off Trench to completely deceive Parkin who could only watch as the ball went into the opposite corner.
There was a further blow for Handsworth when Bagley limped off shortly afterwards, Alfie Dodsworth returning to action in his place, and the half ended with Henry Carne heading over from a corner, before Radford took centre stage, netting his first goal of the season with the very last kick of the opening period, after initially chesting down Nelthorpe’s free kick to create the space, and sending The Ambers into the dressing room 2-1 up.
Any hopes Main had of a fightback were extinguished just 15 seconds into the second half when Williams pinged a ball out to Shaun Tuton on the left wing and after his first touch took him past his marker, the second was emphatic as he smashed the ball past Mernenko into the far corner to make it 3-1 to the hosts.
Five minutes later, it literally was game over, and again Williams laid the foundations with another excellent diagonal ball, this time to Dodsworth who killed it first time, cut inside and curled it into the far corner in some style. Then, just three minutes later, after Bishop was brought down as he drove at the heart of the Wombwell defence, Dodsworth stepped up and fired home the free kick although how it deceived Mernenko was a bit of a mystery from my viewpoint.
The Ambers continued to pepper the Main goal, Nelthorpe seeing a shot deflected wide before Mernenko saved well to deny Carne’s stooping header from a corner, before Parkin saw the ball for the first time in a while at the other end, getting down smartly to deny Cowsell’s close range effort.
Steeple then cantered forward for Main showing some excellent footwork and leaving numerous opponents in his wake before forcing a corner, from which Parkin had to tip over a fierce volley from Tate, in what was a good little spell for the visiting side.
This prompted a double substitution for The Ambers, with Mitch Dunne and Leon Howarth coming on, and in a move started by Dunne, Dodsworth picked out earlier sub Mason Barlow with a clever pass inside the full back, and from the resultant cross, Howarth was on hand to steer the ball home with his first touch of the game.
The sixth goal prompted the introduction of 16 year old Tom Hill to replace Parkin between the sticks, becoming the youngest ever player to appear for The Ambers first team, but the youngster could do nothing about Cowsell’s free kick eight minutes later which went up and over the defensive wall to reduce the arrears and cap a fine display by the goal scorer.
There was still time for Mernenko to deny Williams and Howarth, before Dodsworth stepped up to claim his first hat trick for The Ambers, finishing neatly from Dunne’s set up to complete the scoring and send Handsworth through into the next Round.
Despite the score line, Wombwell gave a good account of themselves, with Cowsell and Steeple both catching the eye with good individual performances. Next up for The Ambers is another Cup game, this time of the NCEL League Cup variety, against Eccleshill United on Wednesday evening.