Dunston check out!!

Dunston's FA cup march came to an abrupt end on Saturday afternoon, as their tie with Spennymoor Town proved to be a game too far.  The Moors ran out comfortable 4-1 winners as unfortunately for the Fed Scott Fenwick struggled to find his shooting boots and all they had to take from this game was an Andrew Bulford consolation goal.

Moors were the dominant side throughout the game and so it was probably no surprise that they lead at half time 2-0 through goals from Anthony Peacock and Michael Roberts.

Anthony Peacock

In the second half it was more of the same and goals from  former Watford striker Liam Henderson and a second for Michael Roberts all but secured the win,  Andrew Bulford's great volleyed effort at 3 down could not force a fight back and it is Spennymoor who take their place in the draw for next round at UTS' expense.

Michael Roberts bagged a brace.

Someone once said that football was a funny old game and I have really enjoyed following The Fed in this years FA Cup, but like all good things it has to come to an end.  I feel a little bit like Arthur Fonzerelli going out with a chick for only three dates, before moving on to my next conquest.  Unfortunately that's the way of the FA Cup glory hunt and although I walk away from Dunston with some happy memories of the time we spent together, it's time to move on with the new FA Cup love of my life Spennymoor Town.

The Fonz was more than happy with the Moors performance!!

Good luck to the Fed for the rest of the season, as I will be keeping an eye on the table and the results, as well as the future of Scott Fenwick.

This is no time to dwell on the past though, the glory hunt rolls on and from now on its come on Spennymoor!!

The draw for the next round took place at Wembley earlier today and Spennymoor will play the winner of the tie between Ashton United and Salford City at home on the 11th October.

Up the Moors!!!

Dunston Face Toughest Tie Yet!!!

Dunston face their toughest game to date in the FA Cup, as they take on Spennymoor Town in the 2nd Qualifying round tomorrow.

Spennymoor currently sit 7th in the Evo Stick Division 1 North on 14 points.

Now when I hear the name Spennymoor it conjures up memories of The Big match and Match of the day in the early 80's not because of course Spennymoor Town ever appeared on these programmes, but because Spennymoors most famous son did.  Referee George Courtney.  Or as Brian Moore would say commentary comes from Martin Tyler and your man in the middle is George Courtney from Spennymoor.

Spennymoor or The Moors have got to be big favourites for this game, as they are in a League above in the non league pyramid.

The Moors will be looking to last years top scorer and former Watford, Hartlepool, Colchester, Rotherham and York striker Liam Henderson to be the difference in this game.  Liam netted 47 times last term, in his debut season for Spennymoor.

Also in the Moors ranks is former Dunston midfielder and player of the year Lee McAndrew, Lee will be hoping if selected to have a happy home coming on his return to the UTS Stadium.

The Fed will certainly have it tough tomorrow and realistically if they have any chance of getting through it then home advantage maybe the thing that swings it.

If the crowd get behind them and the defence can stop Henderson and Scott Fenwick continues his free scoring antics then Dunston may just pull off a shock win.

Good luck Dunston.

Up the Fed!!!

Dunston Through.

I predicted a tough game for The Fed on Saturday against Marske United and that is exactly how it proved to be.

Marske, who were at home took the lead in this encounter in the 21st minute Hollingsworth putting the Seasiders ahead with a powerful effort which resulted in UTS goalkeeper Liam Connell colliding with a post and injurying himself quite badly.  The brave keeper carried on though and ended up being Dunston's man of the match.

The Fed equalised in bizzare fashion when Stephen Harrison's corner missed everyone in the box and flew into the top far corner of the net.

A minute later the visitors took the lead Scott Fenwick, Dunston's FA Cup hero was brought down in the box for a penalty, and it was he who got to his feet and smashed home the spot kick for his 5th goal of the competition, keeping up his record of scoring in every round.  Then in first half injury time Marske were awarded a free kick just outside the box, Owens took responsibility for the set piece and fired the ball passed the helpless Connell to level things up and that is how it stayed at half time.  2-2.

By all accounts the second half was all Marske and the Seasiders were asking more questions of the UTS defence than the Fed were of Marske.  Connell was called into action several times in the Dunston goal as United looked to press on.  Then in the 74th minute Dan Halliday made a poor challenge and collected a yellow card unfortunately for him and his Dunston team mates he had already been booked in the first half and so was sent off.

With the visitors down to 10 men it was going to be tough to hang on against a side who were already piling the pressure on, but hang on they did and after a strong, battling, backs against the wall performance The Fed were rewarded with a replay to be played at home on Tuesday 16th.

The draw for the next round had already been made before last nights game and Dunston knew that if they could win this match they would face Spennymoor Town in the next round at home.


A goal in each half from Scott Fenwick was enough to put The Fed through as 2-0 winners which means it will be them who play Spennymoor Town on the 27th September at the UTS Stadium.

It also means that Scott Fenwick has scored 7 goals in this years competition so far, lets hope he can continue his goalscoring heroics in the next round.

Before that date though there is a special night going on at Dunston on the Thursday before the 25th.
Its an evening with John Gibson and get this Malcolm Macdonald.

Apparently tickets are limited but if anyone is interested they are a fiver and your ticket does include a meal of pie and peas.

I don't know who John Gibson is, but after a quick Google I presume he is a Journalist, but Malcolm Macdonald what a legend former Newcastle goal machine, England International who scored 4 goals on his debut.  I don't understand why he gets second billing though, anyway well done Dunston.

Super Mac!!

Up The Fed!!

Dunston get ready for away trip to Marske United

Its Fa Cup weekend and my FA cup team Dunston UTS head to Redcar to play Marske United in the first qualifying round.

Dunston Played Marske in the first game of this season, although they had home advantage The Fed fell to a 3-1 defeat to the Seasiders.

Dunston come into this game on the back of a 1-0 win against Bedlington last week that had propelled The Fed to top of the Northern League division 1 table.  Confidence should be high and no doubt morale is very good as UTS ready themselves for some more FA Cup glory, with Scott Fenwick looking to add to his total of four FA Cup goals already this season.

Marske currently sit in 3rd in the league 2 points behind The Fed,  however the Seasiders from Redcar have 3 games in hand on their rivals.  This game could be a tricky one and being at home could give Marske the edge in what looks to be a close encounter.

Marske have won their last 3 games in the league scoring 8 goals in the process.  Jamie Owens, Reece Kelly and Fred Woodhouse could cause The Fed some problems as they have scored 8, 7 and 5 goals respectively in all competitions.  All three of these players have helped themselves to 3 goals each in the FA Cup so far.

Marske have beaten Billingham town 7-1 and Armthorpe Welfare 4-1 to reach this stage of the competition.

After having a look around Dunston's website I found that former Newcastle and Czech goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek is an Honorary vice president of the club.  Pavel who is a goalkeeping coach at Sparta Prague took on the roll in the close season.  Its good to see a former professional putting sometthing back into football and it must be a big boost to the club to have a former Premier league and International footballer as part of their set up.  He is apparently raising funds by taking part in goalkeeping schools and public speaking events for the club.  His name alone should bring the punters in and hopefully raise some money for the non league club.

Former Geordie favourite holds a post at Dunston UTS

So back to tomorrow and as I said it looks like a tough game on paper.  Hopefully it'll be another win for Dunston and they continue to get through the rounds, but I think in the Seasiders they will be up it against especially with United's free scoring of late.

Up The Fed !!

Dunston check in.

             

Bulford
Fenwick, 2

No goals
scored

       3              V        0










Dunston UTS booked their place in the next round of the FA cup with an emphatic 3-0 win over league rivals Durham City.  A goal from Andrew Bulford and a brace from Scott Fenwick, means it will be Dunston and not Durham who will now face Marske United in the the First qualifying round on the 13th September at the GER stadium.  It could prove to be a tough game for The Fed as Marske sit top of the Northern League One at the moment.

Scott Fenwick has certainly been the FA cup hero so far for Dunston this season and on Saturday he scored his 3rd and 4th goals of this years competition after scoring twice in the last round against Morpeth Town.

Obviously I wasn't able to attend this game and therefore would as usual have to rely on any match reports I could find on the internet, unfortunately there are as yet none available as I can find.  

I am sure there will be a match report in the next few days on the clubs official website.  If you would like to have a look at that then please go to their official site  www.dunston-uts-fc.co.uk



On Saturday after I had found out the result of the game I decided I would send my congratulations to the team via the clubs official twitter page, unfortunately when I went to @ them in my twitter message I found that I couldn't.  I went to their twitter page and found out that I had been blocked.

I am not sure why this has happened as the only thing I did was @ them in any blog that I wrote about the club, in fact my last @ included a good luck message before the game on Saturday.

All I am trying to do is write about football as a football fan, the idea of the FA cup glory hunt is to learn a bit more about times that not everyone has heard of.    I have found it very interesting looking at other football clubs websites and getting an insight into other divisions and the history of the clubs.  I do not get any monetary gain from doing these blogs, I do it because I enjoy it and I hope the people who read it enjoy it too.

I have never set out to piss anybody off or poke fun at anybody in this blog, as I understand how hard it must be for these players at this level who do this as well as working in other jobs at the same time.  It wasn't all that long ago that I myself was supporting a non league side, so as a fan I have the utmost respect for these players and the managers and staff who help to keep these clubs going, it must be hard work.

So finally I would just like to apologise to anyone who has read this blog and been offended, as I said it was never my intention.

Anyway congratulations to The Fed as the Cockney Byrites FA Cup Glory Hunt continues.