SJR Worksop’s 10 men tame the Tigers in derby cup upset over Worksop Town Reserves

It was a comfortable and massive win for the club to progress into the next round.

The home side started well as they controlled the game from the start, moving the ball well and using channels to find the space in behind.

And after only 10 minutes of the half the ball fell to captain Tom Mullen on the edge of the box for him to put his trademark finish into the top corner making it 1-0.

With a long way to go, SJR still looked to push on to gain a strong foothold in the game looking for the next vital goal, but the Worksop keeper made some good saves.

Worksop grew into the first half a little and were looking for the ball in behind but never really troubling the back four of Betts, Wesley, Mckernan and Moody.

After the break both sides came back out knowing the next goal was ital.

Both sides made a bright start, but early on the referee gave a very light second yellow card which put SJR down to 10 men with nearly 40 minutes left on the clock.

The home side reshuffled their shape to dig in and see the game through.

After completely changing the dynamic of the game, SJR sat in as a unit as Worksop piled the pressure. But still SJR looked comfortable defensively with Worksop only having a couple of chances.

As the second half progressed, Alex Bennet found himself some space down the left hand side, beating his man and put a brilliant cross to the back post for Evan Stead and a Worksop defender put it into his own net to make it 2-0 SJR.

Worksop tried to step up a gear but, with Cameron Baines and Scott Wesley working tirelessly in the middle, the whole SJR side stuck together and made it hard for them.

Worksop’s best chance of the half saw Joe Vaughan was called upon to make a very good save to deny a one on one.

Worksop still pushed on and, as the ball fell deep at the back post, Rhys Butterworth headed in a great cross to halve the defecit.

With the clock running down, the home side dug in and saw the game through to finish 2-1 winners.

It definitely wasn’t a pretty performance for SJR, but they worked for each nother and looked a solid unit, having played the majority of the match with 10 men.