After such a remarkable slaying as this, no one would have been surprised if a rabbit had been pulled out as well.
Wayne Riley, who at 18 is destined to be remembered for the rest of his days as the player whose goal revived a storied old club, assuredly looked like a rabbit in the headlights as the cameras and microphones gathered around him at the final whistle.
It would be safe to assume that the Leigh Arms in Adlington, near Macclesfield, was a rather lively place last night; Riley has been doing bar work there for some extra cash.
Narratives do not come much more Roy of the Rovers than his. “I just thought 'why not’ and had a shot,” the substitute midfielder said, after his 81st-minute strike sent this corner of Cheshire into a heightened state of rapture.
Northwich are so old that they have reached the fourth round of the FA Cup before, but that was in 1884, against Blackburn Olympia, and they have never been authors of an upset on this scale. An eminently winnable second-round match at home to Lincoln City was just reward for their blood-and-thunder commitment.
This was what the aficionados call a “proper Cup tie”: roast turkey and Yorkshire pudding in the directors’ suite, and combat of a distinctly agricultural kind on the pitch. There was even a pitch invasion thrown in.
Northwich caused havoc in the Charlton Athletic ranks with their long throws, but manager Andy Preece, himself best known for Stockport’s third-round giant-killing goal against QPR in 1990, was not about to tolerate accusations that his team were one-dimensional.
“I know I can manage at a high level,” Preece said. “Performances like this give you the opportunity, and if we have another one against Lincoln, then we can win. I’m very ambitious.”
For Charlton, the indignities only multiplied for a club still coming to terms with two successive relegations to League One. Seventy-six places in the pyramid above Northwich, of the Blue Square North, they may have been but their display was abject in its lack of backbone. “Northwich wanted it more,” manager Phil Parkinson conceded. “We were second best, and we’re very disappointed in ourselves.”
Not even the stout resistance of Darren Randolph could save them. The goalkeeper had needed to be on inspired form to push away a fiery header from Matt Bailey, seizing upon a cross from Lee Elam in the first of Northwich’s many aerial assaults.
Predictably, the first-half pressure upon Charlton was remorseless, a fact best illustrated by a mad goalmouth scramble in which Nat Kerr’s shot needed to be cleared off the line by Christian Dailly. The frustration left Preece fulminating like Basil Fawlty, as he resorted to punching the turf in his dugout.
The deficiencies of Charlton’s defence meant Randoph could never stand idle, and he produced his finest save on the stroke of half-time with an acrobatic leap to tip Michael Connor’s angled header wide. Parkinson had a quandary: whether to keep faith in his misfiring forwards or to have a shake-up, and the recklessness of Izale McLeod appeared to make up his mind.
McLeod should have been sent off within five seconds of the restart when his elbow flew into the face of Connor, in an incident that the Football Association promised to investigate last night. Parkinson had seen enough although it took him 22 minutes to remove him, instead sending on decades worth of striking experience in the shape of Deon Burton and Leon McKenzie. If the move was based on the belief that Northwich’s energy levels would dip, then it backfired.
The home side’s resolve redoubled in one seamless movement as Curtis Aspden’s clearance was headed on by Connor, straight into the path of the lurking Riley. He had been part of the action for only six minutes but as he spun away from last man
Sam Sodje and slid the ball beyond Randolph, he acquired memories to last a lifetime – not to mention drinks for life down at the Leigh Arms.
Match details
Northwich (4-4-1-1): Aspden; Aspin, Bailey, Brown, Kerr; Connor,
Herring, Newby, Elam (Riley 75); D’Laryea; Allan (Winter 86).
Subs: Vaughan, Edwards, Cadwallader, Richards, Spencer (g).
Booked: Connor.
Charlton (4-4-1-1): Randolph; Omozusi, Sodje, Dailly, Youga; Sam,
Semedo (Wagstaff 85), Racon, Bailey (Burton 67); Shelvey; McLeod (McKenzie
67).
Subs: Binks (g), Spring, Llera, Basey.
Referee: D Webb (Co Durham).
