TEAM NEWS:  Phil Sharpe drafted in central defender Dan Husband due to the absence of Steve Robinson which was the only change from our dramatic loss to Skelmersdale last Saturday.

On a boiling red-hot afternoon both teams set off at a steady pace with Rail looking comfortable and North Ferriby not really causing us any problems. However it wasn’t long before North Ferriby took the lead with virtually their first attack. The attacker found himself free on the left-hand side of our area. His low shot was well saved by James Mann in goal but he only managed to put it into the path of ex-Town player Colin Hunter who had the simple task of tapping the ball into an empty net.

NORTH FERRIBY UTD 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 0 (9mins)

An early setback for Rail and a bit of a mountain to climb against third placed North Ferriby. Rail were struggling to mount any sort of attack as our hosts were working hard to close us down at every opportunity. However North Ferriby were not really causing us any further problems with most of the play being around the midfield. Rail managed to get the ball into the net but it was disallowed for handball by Paul Stansfield when probably a first time shot by him would have been better. As the half drew on North Ferriby were looking more and more dangerous and it took a wonderful one handed save onto the crossbar by Manny to keep us into the game. The referee blew his whistle for half-time with Rail still very much in the cup tie.

HALF-TIME: NORTH FERRIBY UTD 1 HARROGATE RAILWAY 0

The second half started brightly for North Ferriby as they started to put a bit of pressure on us. It wasn’t long after the start that Dan Verity found himself in the referee’s notebook for a late challenge from behind. The pressure eased and again Rail were looking comfortable but weren’t really threatening the North Ferriby goal. On came Steve Smith for Phil Mitchell to try and make some in-roads into a very tight defence. It wasn’t really happening for us and with North Ferriby looking more threatening on the counter-attack it was not surprising that they doubled their lead. The ball was worked down our right and passed into the middle on the edge of the area and with the Rail defence not really closing Ben Morley down he managed to turn and hit a powerful shot past Manny who had no chance of stopping the ball flying into the net.

NORTH FERRIBY UTD 2 HARROGATE RAILWAY 0 (71mins)

An uphill task now faced Rail and moments later Steve Ball found himself in the book for pulling back an attacker. A double substitution was made by Phil Sharpe with Will Ryder and Nathan James coming on for Dan Thirkell and Craig Smith. Sadly it didn’t seem to change the course of the game and it took another breathtaking save by Manny to deny North Ferriby a third. In doing so he seemed to land awkwardly and injure himself. After a few minutes treatment from Dick Roache he was able to carry on. In a frantic finish to the game Rail were beginning to make inroads into the North Ferriby defence. Most of our threat came down our left and the pressure was a little too much for Gary Bradshaw and Ben Morley as they found themselves joining Bally and V-Man into the book within minutes of each other. The pressure came to nothing and the referee blew his whistle to end Rail’s FA Cup exploits for 2009/10.

FULL-TIME: NORTH FERRIBY UTD 2 HARROGATE RAILWAY 0

BOOKINGS: 4 – MORLEY & BRADSHAW (NORTH FERRIBY) BALL & VERITY (RAIL)

ATTENDANCE: 121

RAIL MEN OF THE MATCH: PAUL STANSFIELD, JAMES MANN & DAN VERITY

PLAYERS MARKS:

James Mann – 8

Ryan Haigh – 7

Steve Ball – 7

Dan Husband – 7

Dan Verity – 8

Paul Stansfield – 8

Craig Smith – 6

Phil Mitchell – 7

Ben Jones - 6

Dan Thirkell – 7

Andy Wright – 6

SUBS: Steve Smith – 6 Nathan James – 6 Will Ryder - 6