Valiant Larks bow out of the FA Trophy

A record-beating cup run came to an end in front of over 3500 people at National League Premier club Stockport County, some 200 of whom were travelling support who backed their side vociferously throughout. Ollie Price’s team gave a very good account of themselves and impressed their higher level opponents with their commitment and professionalism, but ultimately the gap was too much to bridge.

The Hatters took an early lead thanks to Connor Jennings, who was to make it 2-0 with a powerful header off a corner shortly before half time. But the home side did not have it all their own way: from the start the Larks seemed unfazed by their opponents and were unlucky not to score early on when Alex Lambert collected a cross from the impressive Jack Goodall only to see his volleyed shot go narrowly wide. Brad Norris and Dan Demkiv combined well to present a threat to Stockport and won a series of corners as a young Stockport side grappled with Brad’s strength on the ball and Dems’ trickiness.

Stockport dictated possession in the second half, putting the spotlight on our back three, who acquitted themselves magnificently. Mike Baker and Josh Jones both put on strong performances and Shaun Semmens made some important stops to prevent the scoreline reaching the kind of levels the Hatters have been routinely racking up in the National League recently. At the other end, Lammy was desperately unlucky not to score when he beat their defence but shot into the side netting. In the final stages Brad showed great resolve to hold the ball up almost single handedly, including a solo run that got the Larks fans on their feet in the dying stages of the game.

A proud Ollie Price spoke to Radio Bath after the game and you can listen to the interview here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ovbn9gh01019k7n/Larkhall_Athletic_Ollie_Price_live_postStockport.mp4?dl=0.

Photo gallery of the whole weekend by Nigel Battrick here.