Walsall Wood ready for Worcester replay

The Woodmen looked to be down and out against their Midland League Premier rivals but Sullivan saved the day, stabbing home from close range after Mitch Tolley’s header across goal.

A win at the Victoria Ground (7.45pm) would see Gary Birch’s outfit join Sporting Khalsa, Wednesfield and Stourport Swifts in the preliminary round.

Ian Rowe’s Khalsa, who are also in the Midland Premier, advanced thanks to a 2-1 victory against Tividale at the Aspray Arena.

Josh Thomas and Jay Holdcroft netted for the Willenhall-based side, either side of Demitri Brown’s cool one-on-one finish for Tivi.

But Rowe admitted they rode their luck.

“Commiserations to Tividale, it was a really valiant effort,” he said.

“They’ve hit the crossbar and post about five times in the second half.

“It just shows the amount of supremacy they had in the second half but they’re out, we won. We scored the all-important goal.”

Tividale boss Dave King, naturally, was disappointed to go out – but insists he ‘couldn’t have asked for any more’ from his charges.

“I thought we were unlucky, a lot of people there thought we were and even Ian said we were,” said King.

“We played really well. We hit the woodwork five or six times.

“I couldn’t be more happy with how we played.

“Whoever finishes above Khalsa in that league will probably win it, so that shows how far we’ve come.

“We were so unlucky. Of course we wanted to get through but we didn’t, Khalsa did, and good luck to them in the next round.

“Our goal, it was a bit of a defensive mistake and Demitri capitalised with an emphatic finish.

“I wanted us to perform the way we know we can – and we did that.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the players.”

Wednesfield made it through with a 2-1 triumph over Rocester at home.

Jack Jeffery put the visitors ahead but goals from Harry Cunningham and Tom McCrystal saw the Cottagers complete the comeback.

Stourport also won 2-1, against Shawbury United.

Wolverhampton Sporting were knocked out though at the hands of Haughmond. There is a bit of history between the two teams – Haughmond winning the race for the West Midlands Premier title two seasons ago – and Carl Rogers and Steve Hole got the goals for the Shropshire side.

Khalsa, Wednesfield and Stourport each bagged a cool £2,250 from the FA prize fund for their wins.

Khalsa are facing Southport, while Wednesfield have a tough task on their hands as they host Chasetown, in the preliminary round.

If Wood beat Worcester, they will welcome Whitchurch Alport, who have ex-Wood full-back Darren Campion, to Oak Park.

Those ties are set to take place on a week on Saturday.

The winners will receive £2,890, losers £960.