Birmingham Senior Cup 2nd Round  Halesowen Town 1 Burton Albion 1 (Burton Albion won 4-1 on penalties)

Simeon Cobourne netted an early goal but a strong League One Burton Albion outfit went on to knock Halesowen out of the Birmingham Senior Cup in a penalty shoot-out, writes David Johnson. The fixture and result was a repeat of the same round in the same competition from January 2020 when the Brewers also won on penalties.

At the start of a competitive game, the Yeltz took a 7th minute lead when COBOURNE flicked home cleverly at the near post following a great cross from the right by Rob Evans. Jonny Smith ballooned over the bar for Burton after 12 minutes and Smith then struck the top of the bar four minutes later.

Cobourne’s pace continued to create danger and he did well down the left after 21 minutes with the ball falling for Kyle Finn to hit wide from the edge of the area.

Halesowen looked solid in defence as Evans made a superb 22nd minute clearance after Danny Rowe skipped clear down the left and Ben McLean fired over the bar from the resulting corner. Home goalkeeper Dan Platt then made a good low save from Smith’s 20 yard shot. Just before the interval, McKauley Manning poked just wide after a foul on Cobourne earned the home side a free-kick on the side of the Burton penalty area.

The Brewers drew level when Callum NIVEN stepped up to convert a 49th minute penalty after his legs were clipped by Paul McCone as the Yeltz lost the ball. Calum Flanagan then made a good 52nd minute saving tackle on Rowe in front of goal in an even second period.

Burton escaped on the hour when substitute Harry White cut in from the left and his shot was spilled by goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe, with the ball shepherded to safety. In the second minute of injury time substitute Robbie Bunn’s corner was cleared following a spell of Yeltz pressure and Burton made a quick break to the Stourbridge Road end where goalkeeper Platt made a superb blocking save to deny Ciaran Gilligan and then recovered to complete a double save from substitute Ben Radcliffe from the loose ball.

With the scores level at 90 minutes the game went straight to a penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome. Burton began with captain Adedeji Oshilaja beating Platt and Yeltz captain McCone responded by smashing the home side’s first penalty into the roof of the net. But that was the only conversion by Halesowen as efforts by Finn and Jack Holmes were both saved low down by Balcombe to his left. Niven and Gilligan both successfully beat Platt and it was left to Rowe to net Burton’s fourth penalty to put his side into the next round 4-1 on penalties.

Halesowen Town: Dan Platt; Lewis Wright (Dan Brookes 82), Brett Lloyd, Calum Flanagan, Paul McCone (c), Rob Evans (Harry White 46), McKauley Manning, Toby Scott (Robbie Bunn 75), Simeon Cobourne (Chris Lait 74), Kyle Finn, Joe Palmer (Jack Holmes 68).

Burton Albion: Ellery Balcombe; Adedeji Oshilaja (c), Kieran Wallace (Jakub Niemczyk 79), Jonny Smith, Danny Rowe, Callum Niven, Ciaran Gilligan, Charlie Williams (Joe Nyahwema 79), Luke Redfern, Ben McLean, Thierry Latty-Fairweather (Ben Radcliffe 46). Subs Not Used: Dan Moore.

Referee: Jack Shepherd Attendance: 432 Booked: Redfern (58), Oshilaja (90)

Report submitted by Halesowen Town