At the equinox, when days become shorter than the nights it was 19 degrees at 19.00 pm with mainly clear skies, after a brilliant bright blue sky day, I found an intriguing FA cup second round qualifying replay between Worksop Town and Telford United. The teams drew 2.2 at Telford on Saturday and I saw these two teams play in the league in August when Worksop just squeezed a 2.1 win.There was also the incentive in that the winner had been drawn at home to FC United of Manchester in the next round.
I have written about the facilities at this ground a few times before and the history of both clubs so I will get straight onto the game.
Worksop Town FC 5 AFC Telford United 2 (after extra time).
Tuesday 22nd September 2026, kick off 19.45 pm. FA Cup second round qualifying replay.
14th v 18th in the National League North. Tigers v Bucks,
Worksop Town; yellow shirts with black diagonal stripes and black shorts, goalkeeper in all blue.
AFC Telford; all white shirts and shorts. goalkeeper in all green.
This game started at a tremendous pace and competitiveness with neither side dominating the other. It took a defensive mistake on 24 minutes by Tefords left side of defence that allowed the home team forward to pounce and send a good pass into Ryan Biggars who made no mistake when beating Telfords keeper.
Half time came up in a flash and although Worksop walked off ahead they didn’t look secure with their lead.
Mid way through the second half it looked like Worksop had finally stamped their authority on a very hard fought game when on 67 Ryan Viggars doubled the home teams lead when a cross was again poorly defended by the away defence.
Telford though had other ideas and didn’t give up, and reduced the deficit with 15 minutes remaining when some good play on the left resulted in a defence splitting pass for Remi Walker to score. The crowd and the home team were now tentatively waiting for the end of the game but on 83 minutes Worksop’s’ left back was outpaced and the cross was swept in by Rio Owen.
Having used their substitutes earlier in the game Telford were now looking fitter and stronger as the game ended all square,bringing up 30 minutes of extra time.
Telford continued their pressure but were temporarily slowed when an injury to Kian Ryley ended with his head bandaged and looking poorly. Into three minutes of stoppage time of the first half of extra time a cross from a free kick was met by Josh Wilde at the far post to restore the Tigers lead.
Ryley didn’t reappear for the second half of the extra period and having used their only three named subs already, Telford had to play with ten men.
Worksop took advantage with two great goals, first Aleks Starcenko hammered a ball into the top right hand corner after it came out to him on the edge of the box following a melee in the Telford goal area, and a fifth came with 4 minutes left when Lewis Whitham stroked a wow shot from at least 25 yards, again into the top right hand corner of the net.
Worksop ended up deserved winners but Telfords lack of substitutes, owing to injuries, and running a small squad didn’t help their cause. The tigers will be at home on October 3rd in the next round. My man of the match was SamEssien who was everywhere, what stamina.
I don’t usually comment on a poor display by a referee but there were some unusual decisions in this game with some obvious infringements being allowed to go on without confrontation.
No chips for me, only a coffee and a kit kat.
When I was driving home I noticed it was still registering 19 degrees at gone 22.00 hrs. in mid September, we are certainly having some unusual weather. It was also pleased to have seen a very competitive match with some great skills from both sets of players, the FA Cup is still a fantastic competition.
