FC United hit seven to go through to Manchester Premier Cup Final - Full report

FC United are through to the Frank Hannah Manchester Premier Cup Final for the first time after beating West Didsbury & Chorlton 7-1 at Broadhurst Park on Tuesday night with a hat-trick each from Jason Gilchrist and Matthew Wolfenden and a Tom Brown goal.

In naming a strong starting XI for the semi-final, manager Karl Marginson set out his intentions to go all the way in the competition. After a cagey few minutes, the Reds were a goal to the good when Gilchrist headed home a Jerome Wright cross.

Despite starting well and being 1-0 up, the Reds were punished moments later as former FC United player Matthew Kay cut in on his right foot and fired a low drive from outside the box past goalkeeper Adriano Basso.

Any hopes of a comeback were quickly quashed though as Gilchrist netted his second of the night with what looked like a carbon copy of Kay’s equaliser at the other end. Gilchrist wrapped up his hat-trick in just 23 minutes when a ball from the left was played across the box and he coolly redirected towards the goal for 3-1.

Brown made it 4-1 before the break as a nice forward move was intercepted by the visiting defender, but his sliding challenge only put the ball into Brown’s path at the edge of the box and he slotted the ball home.

With a comfortable three goal lead at the break, both George Thomson and Gilchrist were replaced by Matthew Wolfenden and Tom Greaves. Unfortunately, Greaves was soon substituted; coming off the pitch holding his groin area.

The visitors came on strong early in the second half with a couple of good efforts forcing saves from Basso, as they looked to make their way back into the game.

But in the last 15 minutes the Reds stepped up the pace again. Firstly, a Wright run into the box beat the visiting defence but his ball across the face of the goal was just behind the on-rushing Wolfenden.

Wolfenden did grab a goal just moments later though, getting on the end of a great ball from Kieran Glynn to make it 5-1. Glynn again provided a ball across the box for the sixth and Wolfenden’s second, as he calmly headed home at the far post.

The scoring, and Wolfenden’s hat-trick, was wrapped up in the last minute. Wolfenden got through one-on-one with the visiting goalkeeper Dean Williams, before rounding him and slotting the ball home.

The Reds now must wait to see who wins next Tuesday’s semi-final between Stalybridge Celtic and Salford City to find out who we will meet in the final. The date and venue for the final is still to be confirmed.

Website Man of the Match: Kieran Glynn – With both the hat-trick scoring players only playing 45 minutes each, Glynn was undoubtedly the star player of the game. Carrying on from a great performance in the weekend’s friendly, he was at the heart of everything and seems to be growing in confidence with each game he plays.

Report by Craig Phillips