REPORT | Winsford United 1-1 Widnes

Widnes are in the hat for the preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup but they will need a replay to guarantee their place and overcome Winsford United.

The Whites could only draw against the lower-ranked opponents after Luke Sephton’s tenth minute opener was cancelled out by Daniel Boden’s second half penalty.

And Dave Dempsey’s team were perhaps fortunate to take the resolute Blues to a replay and had goalkeeper Owen Wheeler to thank for a miraculous stoppage time save that kept the scoreline at 1-1.

The Widnes boss even went as far to brand his team’s performance as “absolutely dreadful” and expressed immense disappointment that they failed to capitalise on a bright start, ultimately forced to reconvene at the DCBL Stadium this Tuesday night to settle the tie.

Dempsey named five debutants in his first starting line-up of the new competitive season, with Sephton, Jordan Wynne, Dylan Glass, Jay Salkeld and Lucas Schofield all selected from the off.

Widnes made a positive start with Salkeld and Wynne both seeing early sights of goal but neither tested Winsford keeper Ryan Livesey.

The breakthrough came after just 10 minutes when the visitors’ high press paid dividends, with Sephton harassing a Winsford defender into a wayward back pass before nipping in ahead of the on-rushing Livesey to finish coolly into the roof of the empty net.

It was a good opening quarter from Widnes but to their credit, United responded to going a goal behind well and grew in confidence as the visitors began to lose their way.
The home crowd screamed for a penalty after 25 minutes when Jordan Barrow tangled with Robbie Hatton, but referee Justin Walton wasn’t interested and waved away the protests.
Winsford, reeling from two defeats to open their competitive season in the North West Counties Premier Division, had a point to prove to manager Lee Duckworth and the Blues boss was certainly seeing a reaction.
Daniel Kerr should have at least tested Wheeler from a free-kick with a free header that sailed off target while Hatton could only shoot straight at the legs of the Widnes custodian as the interval drew nearer.
The half ended shrouded in controversy when Schofield appeared to clumsily foul Kevin Exell in the area. It looked a definite spot-kick to everyone but the referee, who decided to overrule his flagging linesman on the near side.
Manager Dempsey would have asked for an improvement from his players at half time and Alex McMilan was brought off the bench to provide Widnes with fresh impetus at the top of the pitch.
But they were fortunate to retain their slender advantage when Samuel Marshall dragged an effort across the face of goal when he really should have at least hit the target after Winsford crafted a decent opening.

At that point, Dempsey had seen enough and reverted to a 3-5-2 formation when Dylan Glass was withdrawn for Mike Burke, but an attempt to pack the midfield and exploit wide areas never really worked.

Instead, right-back Jack Hatton, now tasked with pushing further afield, was caught up the pitch during a Winsford breakaway and fouled Boden in the area.

Referee Walton this time pointed to the spot and Boden dusted himself down to covert into the right-hand corner, despite Wheeler correctly guessing right.

It was an equaliser Winsford richly deserved but a fitting punishment for a Widnes side who had totally relinquished any control they had after dominating the early exchanges.

The lively Salkeld ran himself into the ground, shooting wildly over Livesey’s goal before he was replaced by Jesse Dowling with 20 minutes to go.

Dowling thought he had restored Widnes’ lead only five minutes after his introduction, finding the far corner with a well-taken volley but the Whites’ celebrations were premature and halted by the linesman’s offside flag.

Widnes were growing increasingly frustrated as they struggled to assert themselves in search of a winner, compounded when assistant manager Karl Bell was shown a yellow card after an altercation with Exell by the dugouts.

Winsford almost grabbed a late winner when a cross sat up kindly for substitute Madeley, who looked poised to score had Wheeler not somehow clawed a glove in the way of the shot to produce an out-of-this-world save to send the tie to a replay.