Worksop Town made to work hard for County Cup progress with penalties win over Rossington Main

The Colliery put in a fine effort against the Tigers, who sit three divisions above Main, and they took the lead through Brad Grayson’s drilled effort on 47 minutes.

Jay Rollins levelled the game up after the hour mark as he finished from the rebound of his initial shot from Paul Green’s whipped free-kick, but Greg Young put the underdogs back into the lead on 70 minutes with a powerful header from a corner.

The Tigers hit back once again through Vaughan Redford’s looped finish to take the game to penalties, which Worksop won 4-3.

Manager Craig Parry believes his side got away with one. saying: “I thought it was a difficult performance for us. I thought it was difficult conditions and the pitch became a little bit of a leveller.

“We had a lot of possession, especially first-half, but we didn’t create too much in contrast to how much ball be had. I felt we stepped our game up once they scored and even with their second, it triggered a little bit of a lifeline for us to try and get a hold of the game and be forceful and raise the tempo.

“They are a good side and I said to their manager that they didn’t deserve to lose but that’s football and we have gone through with the skin of our teeth, and I am stood here after winning on penalties: I’ll take it.”

Goalkeeper Seb Malkowski saved two of the six penalties that he faced on an evening where he atoned for a mistake that led to the second goal.

Parry explained that the former Polish international needs to build up this match sharpness after being out with a knee injury since April.

“I think Seb knows as much as I do that he needs to get up to speed pretty quickly and that’s going to come down to hard work, game time, and training sessions.

“The goalkeeper position is a vital cog that I need working at full potential. I am sure that he’ll be disappointed with the second goal but once we went to penalties, I felt relaxed person as I have had Seb for many years and I’m more than confident he will pull off more than one or two saves – and that’s what he did.”

Parry was disappointed with the way Worksop threw away three points against second-placed Warrington Rylands on Saturday afternoon due to individual errors.

Vaughan Redford put Worksop ahead from the spot but mistakes from Regan Hutchinson and Hamza Bencherif allowed Ben Hardcastle and Adam Sidibeh to win the game for Rylands.

He said: “I thought we were great for the first 40 minutes until we scored and then for the last five minutes we blew up and did the complete opposite.

“We came out in the second period, and we had a 10-minute spell where Jay [Rollins] has thrown four or five balls in behind their backline and we weren't there.

“We missed a glorious chance to put us ahead again and take the game away from them before we gifted them another goal.

“To summarise it, we have gifted two goals away and haven’t taken our chances: it’s that simple.

“When you’re playing teams around you, you cannot do that, so it is a lesson learned.”

Worksop now welcome Marine AFC to the Windsor Foodservice Stadium on Saturday looking to bounce back from that first league loss in seven games.

Parry is anticipating a difficult test against one of the Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division promotion hopefuls.

Parry continued: “They are a very good side.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that they will be fighting at the top end of the table and are rightly parked in a very good position.

“They are one of the best teams in the league, but we believe we are as well.

“I think it will be a good, entertaining fixture between two really good teams and it’s a game we are really looking forward to.

“It’s on our patch in our facility and hopefully we can pick up three points and continue our pursuit of the top spot.”