Burton stride forward

Burton Albion 4-1 Burscough
The FA Cup Second Round Proper
Pirelli Stadium, Burton
Tuesday 6 December 2005

Conference outfit Burton Albion secured a dream FA Cup Third Round home tie with Manchester United after beating Burscough 4-1 at the Pirelli Stadium on Tuesday night.

In an absorbing clash, Nigel Clough's Burton side were gifted the opening goal on eight minutes after a defensive slip from Adam Tong. The visiting centre-back completely mis-kicked 25-yards out, allowing Shaun Harrad to pick up possession, thread a ball through to Keith Gilroy who made no mistake with the finish.

To compound Tong's misery, in trying to atone for his error with a last-ditch sliding challenge he was stretchered off with a broken ankle.

Burton extended their advantage after 16 minutes when Harrad pulled the ball back to Darren Stride who side-footed home from the edge of the box.

Burscough pressed forward and came close to reducing the arrears when Tony Gray saw his shot blocked by Ryan Austin on 27 minutes.

Four minutes later Martin Crowder forced an excellent save from Saul Deeney, and Liam Blakeman's follow-up effort was cleared off the line by a covering defender.

The misses proved costly as the hosts extended their lead with the best goal of the match.

Gilroy was once again the scorer as he skipped past a couple of defenders before finding the bottom corner of the net with a far post shot on 37 minutes.

Chris Hall came close to making it 4-0 seven minutes after the interval but his header bounced off the crossbar.

Derek Goulding's Burscough, who ply their trade in the UniBond Premier Division, never gave up and, after Deeney tipped a David Eaton drive onto the post, they pulled a goal back on the hour mark.

Deeney flapped at a corner kick and although Ryan Bowen's shot was blocked on the line, Eaton swept in the loose ball.

Burton made sure of the win when Harrad netted six minutes from time.

Although Burscough put up a brave fight against superior opposition they will kick themselves after missing a glorious chance after just 28 seconds as Gray found the side-netting when clean through on goal.

Burton won't care about that, though, with Sir Alex Ferguson's star-studded cast set to visit in the New Year.

Burton: Deeney, Henshaw, Corbett, Tinson, Austin, Stride, Sedgemore, Gilroy, Hall, Shaw, Harrad.

Goals
K Gilroy 7, 36, D Stride 15, S Harrad 83

Burscough: Boswell, Barlow, Dames, (Rowan 79), Bell, Tong, (Underwood 12), Crowder, Parry, Blakeman, Gray, Eaton, Bowen.

Goals
Eaton 60