Report

East Manchester continued their excellent cup form this season as they pushed past current holders Royton Town at Wright Robinson to progress to the semi finals. Chris Stanley and Mark O’Connor’s side have already booked their place in the final of the Manchester Challenge Trophy and now they have the chance to make it to a second.  Paul Brown bagged a first half brace as East took a 2-0 lead into the break and Paul Smith added the third just after.  Town, who were reduced to 10 men on the half hour mark, pulled one back before substitute Danny Williams notched his 19^th goal of the season and Smith got his second of the match to put the tie beyond any doubt making it 5-1.

East were buoyant following their 3-2 win over fellow title contenders Walshaw Sports last weekend but felt there was plenty of room for improvement in the performance.  Management made two changes from last week as they resorted to 4-4-2 with club captain Simon Finegan and Danny Williams dropping to the subs bench with Paul Brown and Simon Harrison stepping in.

The home side were on the front foot from the first whistle passing the ball round with confidence and working hard off the ball to close down the holders. Royton came away 6-2 winners the last time the two sides met at Wright Robinson in August.  East took the lead on 20 minutes after a good move down the right hand side.  A neat pass found Paul Brown in space 6 yards out who turned and dispatched a low shot at the near post.  Town’s luck went from bad to worse on the half hour mark as the full back was given his marching orders for a professional foul.  Paul Smith was clean through when the full back got caught on the wrong side and could only bring him down just outside the box.  Michael O’Connor took the resulting free kick but the wall got in the way of his strike.  Brown got his and East’s second goal of the game just before the break after good work from Jamie Byrne on the left.  Byrne beat the offside trap to cross from the left and found Brown at the far post whose stretched leg diverted the ball in off the post.

Words of encouragement were said at half time from Stanley and O’Connor but warned the lads that it is only half a job done and even though Royton were down to 10 men, they were very much still in the game.  The East lads took that on board and responded shortly after the break.  Paul Smith got on the end of a through ball after Harrison and Byrne linked up and coolly slotted across the keeper into the far post.  The visitors made a few changes and the replacement changed the game. His pace and movement caused the East defence a few problems and soon they pulled a goal back.  A deep ball to the far post found the winger who sent the ball back over for the small forward to head home.

The holders were back in the game and didn’t want to lose their grip on the trophy.  East made a few changes seeing Simon Harrison and Jamie Byrne making way for Elliott Jones and Danny Williams.  Brown went searching for his third goal and nearly got it on a few occasions but it did not go his way.  Even though he didn’t complete his hat-trick he instead turned provider for East’s fourth goal.  His run down the right and cross found Danny Williams who headed home from 6 yards for his 19^th of the campaign.  Paul Smith made it 5-1 on 80 minutes with his second of the afternoon.  The goal scorer was replaced by Chris Stanley.

A great result for East and an impressive performance against the holders as they progress through to the semi final.  In the other quarter final ties, Avro overcame AFC Bury with a 3-1 away victory whilst Springhead went to extra time to get past Dukinfield Town, finally coming out 2-1 winners at St Johns Street.  The other tie between Walshaw Sports and Stockport Georgians will have to be rescheduled after it fell foul to the weather.

EMFC