FA Cup Preliminary Round replay

FA Cup Preliminary Round replay

FC Clacton 1 Colney Heath 5

COLNEY Heath boss Scott Lacey believes his side has the ability to do something special this season following their 5-1 mauling of FC Clacton in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.

After a 0-0 draw at the Recreation Ground on Saturday, Heath were left with the daunting prospect of a long Tuesday night trip to the Essex coast but they had no reason to fear as an Ian Cooper hat-trick and goals from Kevin Ashwood and Jamie Eames helped the Magpies into the First Qualifying Round, the furthest the club has ever progressed in the competition.

“We’re 10,000-1 to win the Cup which I think is a little bit short,” joked Lacey.

“It was probably a best performance of the season. Saturday was frustrating because we bossed the game and had a lot of chances but I said to them before the game that there are too many good players in the dressing room for it not to click and luckily for me it happened last night.”

The Magpies are still without several of their summer signings but are still able to boast good strength in depth and Lacey believes if they are able to keep everyone happy they could be on to a winner.

“We’ve got great strength in depth and if we can keep the squad together and keep everyone happy we have a great chance to do something special,” he said.

“Obviously a nice FA Cup run helps put some money back into the club’s kitty and helps pay back the money they gave us to spend on the squad.

“This was the biggest result in the club’s history and it’s another tick in the box for me and Wes. This is the furthest the club has been in the Cup and we’ve got Burnham next who are in the bottom three of the league above which is certainly winnable.

“If we do win that then you could be looking at a thousand plus crowd away from home and that would be a great reward for the committee who have done nothing but try to take the club forward.”

Ashwood fired the Magpies ahead in the 37th minute following good work from Cooper before the striker got in on the act converting a penalty after Josh Humbert had been hauled down.

Sean Hillier pulled a goal back for Clacton five minutes after the restart to give the hosts hope but that was soon extinguished when Cooper restored the Magpies’ two goal cushion tapping home after Paul Armstrong’s shot had been saved. Cooper completed his hat-trick with another penalty seven minutes from time and Jamie Eames rounded off the scoring with the fifth a minute from time.

The final word from Lacey went to the 40 or so fans who made the trip to support the Magpies.

He said: “There were 40 or so travelling fans there to support us and their support was not unnoticed by the management. I’d like to thank them for taking the time to come and support us and let them know it was appreciated.”