FA Cup run over for Heys in defeat at Atherton Collieries

The romance of the FA Cup was over for Prestwich Heys on Friday night as a fifty fifth minute strike from Aaron Dwyer was enough to complete a 2-0 win for Atherton Collieries in this First Preliminary Round at the Dreams2Reality stadium.

Heys came into this one winless this season but unbeaten away from home while Colls from the league above had lost both opening fixtures so it was all to play for in this one.

It was the hosts first out of the blocks with early chances for Rodney AJayi and Ethan Kershaw as the looked to pile on the early pressure but Heys were battling hard and were almost rewarded on seventeen minutes when a corner was flicked goal bound but was deflected back out to safety.

A key moment in the game came for the visitors on twenty two minutes when a great ball through the middle found Takura Sambizi who was clear in on goal but dragged his shot wide of the far post this was a big let off for the hosts.

Prestwich by this point had settled into the midfield battle with Alfie Belcher firing over the bar on the half hour with Ethan Kershaw doing the same for Colls shortly after.

It was Atherton who got in front though on forty one minutes when a ball down the left found Chinedu Uche who took a touch and fired into the bottom corner past Heys keeper Lee White for 1-0.

Back came Heys though with Sambizi down the left finding Mworina Doro six yards out but his shot was superbly blocked by the Atherton centre half to safety as the half drew to a close.

Prestwich went into the half time break knowing they were giving the hosts a great challenge and needed to convert any chances that came, but as the second half commenced it was Colls very quickly down to business and were further ahead on fifty five minutes when an Kershaw shot was saved by White only to rebound to Aaron Dwyer who fired home for 2-0 leaving Heys with a mountain to climb.

Dwyer who had been lively all evening should have had his second on sixty eight minutes the ball being cleared off the line from his shot from six yards and rattled the post two minutes later.

Further drama for the hosts came on seventy nine minutes when Luke Nock hit an adventurous shot from the halfway line which hit the crossbar and wasn't far away from putting them further in front.

Heys kept battling and knocked a couple of crosses in late on the Colls defence stood firm and Lee White in the Heys goal made a great save getting down to a shot from eight yards as the clock ticked down.

So, a comfortable win in the end for Atherton Collieries who progress to the next round and had that extra bit of quality that you would expect when needed from a team a league above, but Heys will take the positives out of this one and are on the road again next Saturday where they travel to 1874 Northwich in the FA Vase.