Match report: Chorley 2-0 Derby County
Aaron Bower was at Victory Park to see Chorley advance to the fourth round for the first time in their history. Read on ...
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Jamie Vermiglio speaks ...
“It’s a very proud moment for us,” says the Chorley manager, in an interview with BT Sport’s Matt Smith. “Credit to them, I think they deserve a lot of credit for that performance, considering they were 17 and 18-year-old lads who really stood up to a test in the first 20 minutes. We got a goal at a really good time and then in the second half we got another that relieved a little bit of pressure.
“Credit to our boys, they’ve been on a journey and we said this morning that journey can continue today ... and it has done. It’s a momumental day for the football club and I feel proud to be a part of it.”
He goes on to talk about the financial importance of ensuring the game went ahead today and pays tribute to the groundsmen, who did so much to ensure the pitch was playable today.”
Connor Hall speaks ...
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, isn’t it?” says the scorer of Chorley’s first goal in an interview with BT Sport. “That’s fantastic for the club and it will keep us going for a long time financially. The boys have done so well - that’s two League One teams and a Championship side, albeit a group of young lads today. But it was a top effort from us today and I’m so happy.
On Derby County: “We had to show them respect because at the end of the day they’re full-time pros. We knew they weren’t going to be a pushover. We started off well, got the early goal and decvided we just needed to keep pushing on because 1-0 is always a dangerous scoreline. Getting the second was just a great feeling.
On the knee injury that forced him off: “I don’t know how it is yet because I’ve srtill got a lot of adrenaline running through me but we’ll see how it is tomorrow.”
Other FA Cup third round results
- Boreham Wood 0-2 Millwall
- Luton Town 1-0 Reading
- Norwich City 2-0 Coventry City
- Nottingham Forest 1-0 Cardiff City
- Everton lead Rotherham 2-1 in extra time
- Wolves 1-0 Crystal Palace
- Aston Villa 1-4 Liverpool
Full time: Chorley 2-0 Derby County
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! From the National League North, the sixth tier of English football, Chorley advance to the fourth round of this season’s FA Cup. They do so at the expense of Championship side Derby County in what, in the record books in years to come, will look like a seismic shock. But obliged, as they were, to field a team of kids, it would have been a major surprise if Chorley had not prevailed.Hats off to them and well done to the youngsters of Derby for their valiant effort.
90+1 min: Chorley’s Harry Cardwell is awarded the man of the match gong by the BT Sport co-commentator Adam Virgo.
90 min: Chorley try to play down the clock, shielding the ball down by one of the corner flags in the Derby half.
87 min: The jig looks very much up for Derby County Youth, but they’re plugging on regardless. Chorley, meanwhile, barring an unlikely late collapse, will go into the fourth round draw of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. The TV revenue and prize money they receive for this landmark achievement will be the equivalent of a lottery win for the Lancashire club.
GOAL! Chorley 2-0 Derby County (Calveley 83)
Chorley double their lead. Elliot Newby floats the ball towqards the farr post from the edge of the 18-yard box. THere are Chorley players ququeing up for it, but Calveley steers the ball home on the volley with his right foot. Looks like there’s little chance of extra time after all.
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82 min: Just the one goal in it as we go into the final 10 minutes. Should Derby chisel out an equaliser and the score remain level at the end of normal time, the game would go into extra time and then penalties if required. There are no replays in the FA Cup this season.
80 min: Chorley goalscorer Connor Hall limps off with what looks like a knee injury and is replaced by Lewis Reilly.
78 min: Chorley substitution: Smith on, Shenton off.
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77 min: Cardwell heads over on the stretch for Chorley at the far post, after getting on the end of a cross from Newby. It was a mite too high for him and he couldn’t get much purchase on his header.
76 min: Ebosele has a cross cut out by Tomlinson and Derby have a corner. The ball’s floated into the area, headed across the face of goal and ends up in the arms of Chorley goalkeeper Matt Urwin.
75 min: Derby County take off defender Max Bardell and replace him with target man Bartosz Cybulski, who looks about seven foot tall. He has the physique of a young Peter Crouch.
72 min: Free-kick for Chorley, who have just brought on Adamn Henley for - I think - Andy Halls. It’s a long way out and the ball’s floated out for a goal kick.
69 min: Chorley corner. A wonderful delivery is sent towards the far post, where Harry Cardwell I didn’t get almost scores with a header despite being face down on the ground. The ball is hacked clear by Isaac Hutchinson before it trundles over the line.
65 min: Derby substitution: Festy Ebosele comes on for Osazee Aghatise. I’m delighted with that, because young Festy is one of only two players in either squads that I know anything about!
A native of Wexford in the Republic of Ireland, he joined Derby County from Bray Wanderers. Bray, of course, being in County Wicklow and the local team of top comedian and amateur astronomer Dara O Briain.
63 min: Having apparently weathered Derby’s early second half storm, Chorley are back in the ascendency. Getting on the end of a good cross from the right, Mike Calveley heads a good scoring opportunity downwards and left of the upright. He’ll be disappointed with that, Clive.
63 min: With a pull-back from the byline, Newby tees up Cardwell for Chorley, but his shot on the turn is blocked.
60 min: A lot of the play being condensed in the middle third of the pitch, punctuated by regular throw-ins. Derby win a free-kick wide on the right, which Chorley clear, but only as far as Dylan Williams for the visitors.
58 min: An impromptu game of head tennis over by the technical areas ends with the ball going out of play and assorted players from both teams claiming the throw-in. It goes the way of Derby.
57 min: For Chorley, Elliot Newby creates room for a shot on the edge of the Derby penalty area, but fires straight at Matt Yates.
55 min: Derby County look like a different side in this second half, playing with a vim, vigour and confidence that was not evident in the first 45 minutes. They haven’t created anything in the way of a chance, but are giving Chorley far more to think about.
52 min: Curiously, the unconfirmed word on the street is that Chorley don’t have a goalkeeper on their bench, for reasons that aren’t quite clear.
I’m guessing they don’t have one availalable - it would be quite the gamble to not have a reserve goalkeeper in the squad, particularly in a game where each team is allowed five substitutes.
50 min: Derby win a free-kick wide on the left, a long way out. The ball’s played into the mixer, half-cleared and eventually ends up in the hands of Chorley goalkeeper Matt Urwin.
49 min: Better from Derby, who seem to have upped their game considerably after a fairly feeble first half effort.
48 min: Derby played themselves into trouble there, trying to play the ball out from the back. Harrison Solomon lost the ball, which was played to Hall, who was unamrked in acres of space.
47 min: Connor Hall strikes a venomous shot towards the bottom left-hand corner form about 20 yards out, but Derby County goalkeeper Matt Yates gets down to save with a strong right hand.
Second half: Chorley 1-0 Derby County
46 min: Play resumes with Derby going on the attack in the opening seconds of the second half. Chorley win a throw-in deep inside their own half and use the opportunity to clear their lines.
Looking at that reversed penalty decision again: Matt Urwin came off his line to contest a through ball with the oncoming Cameron Cresswell, might have won the ball and brought the Derby man down at the same time.
Having seen it in slow motion another two times, I’m still not convinced the goalkeeper got the ball, but in the BT Sport studio, Robbie Savage is certain he did.
What I can tell you for certain is that Kevin Friend, the only man whose opinion matters, originally awarded a spot-kick before overturning his decision on the advice of his linesman. A reminder: there is no VAR in this game, technology is only being used in games that are being played in Premier League grounds that are equipped for it. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair, but them’s the rules.
Half-time: Chorley 1-0 Derby County
Peep! Kevin Friend brings the first half to a close. Chorley from the sixth tier lead the youth of Championship side Derby County by the only goal of the game, a scoreline that doesn’t do the home side’s dominance justice.
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45+1 min: Another Chorley corner ends with Ollie Shenton shooting into the side-netting from a very tight angle.
44 min: We approach half-time with Connor Hall’s headed goal separating the sides, but in truth there’s been a gulf in physicality, if not necessarily class.
The grown-up part-timers have completely dominated the youthful full-timers, who can consider themselves pretty fortunate to still be in the game.
42 min: A let-off for Derby! Will Tomlinson rattles the cross-bar with a lobbed volley from distance that had Matt Yates well and truly beaten. The effort presented itself when a long-throw was cleared his way and sat up nicely. If his improvised effort had gone in it would almost certainly have been a goal of the round contender.
40 min: Max Bardell gets the better of makeshift Chorley left-back Lewis Baines and tries to tee up Bobby Duncan with a pull-back, but Chorley keeper Matt Urwin intervenes and dives on the ball.
38 min: Cardwell wins another flick on which lands at the feet of Elliot Newby on the right flank. He cuts inside and tries his luck from distance but his effort sails high over the crossbar.
36 min: Chorley goalkeeper Matt Urwin lumps the ball long and Harry Cardwell wins another flick-on for his side. Derby clear on this occasion but Cardwell is a big unit and a constant threat.
34 min: Derby County have yet to register an attempt on goal, while their hosts have had five. Chorley win another corner and the ball is swung to the near post, where it’s cleared.
32 min: Bobby Duncan, a cousin of Steven Gerrard and former Liverpool acadamy prospect, protests when the ball goes out for what he thinks should be a Derby County corner, only for a goal kick to be awarded to Chorley.
28 min: From the byline, Connor Hall pulls the ball back to Mike Calveley in the penalty area through the legs of a defender. Calveley’s first touch is awful and a good scoring chance goes to waste.
25 min: Derby goalkeeper Matt Yates comes for a long ball that’s bouncing his way and being shielded for him by Harrison Solomon. Critically, he hesitates before dropping to grab it but loses it from his grasp. With the ball breaking lose in the penalty area, his blushes are saved by defenders who get him out of jail by clearing.
24 min: Derby win a free-kick just inside the Chorley half, earning themselves a brief moment of respite.
22 min: It is also worth noting that Derby’s players are being physically outmuscled in a lot of one-on-one tussles. This is, quite literally, men against boys.
19 min: Chorley are very much in the ascendency and have had 64% of possession in the opening 20 minutes. Some of you may have seen how suddenly Aston Villa’s kids tired midway through the second half against Liverpool last night, but the same fate may not befall their Derby Counterparts, seeing as they are up against part-timers. It will be fascinating to see how this pans out.
18 min: Another good set-piece routine from Chorley. The ball’s floated to the far post, headed across the face of goal and then blasted high and wide by Ollie Shenton, who had ghosted into the box from deep.
17 min: Chorley win another corner, Lewis Baines’s cross from the left going out for a corner off Max Bardell.
14 min: Chorley freee-kick, about 45 yards from goal, a little to the left. Ollie Shenton lofts the ball towards the edge of the six yard box and this time Matt Yates makes no mistake. Taking off like Superman, the young goalkeeper punches the dropping ball clear.
12 min: While there will be no disgrace in defeat for the youngsters of Derby today, should they lose, that was a very poor goal to concede.
GOAL! Chorley 1-0 Derby County
10 min: Chorley corner. A game of penalty box head-tennis ensues and comes to an end when Connor Hall nods the ball over the line from about two yards out, helping along an initial header from Scott Leather.
Derby goalkeeper Matt Yates came for the ball but got lost in a thicket of bodies and wasn’t strong or authoratitive enough to punch it clear.
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9 min: Play resumes after a brief pause during which Chorley goalkeeper Matt Urwin received treatment, presumably for a blow he received while diving at the feet of Cameron Cresswell as he zeroed in on goal.
Decision reversed - no penalty!
In the absence of VAR, Friend consults with his linesman and decides it isn’t a spot-kick after all. I’ve seen it three times, twice in slow motion, and still have no idea whether Urwin fouled Cresswell or not.
Penalty for Derby County
Referee Kevin Friend penalises Chorley goalkeeper for bringing down Cameron Cresswell as he ran on to through ball.
4 min: Lewis Baines takes two throw-ins in quick succession down the left touchline, but the ball ends up back in the hands of his goalkeeper Matt Urwin. He kicks it long and Ollie Shenton tries a shot, which is blocked by Hugo Jinkinson.
2 min: Chorley win a throw in deep in Derby territory and chuck the ball long. Their players line up in black and white striped shirts, black shorts and black socks. The players of Derby weardark green shirts and shorts, and light green socks.
Chorley v Derby County is go ...
1 min: Play gets under way, with Chorley goalkeeper Matt Urwin getting an early fright as he goes to clear a backpass only to have his kick blocked. The ball loops back into his arms.
Not long now: The pitch at Victory Park is bathed in sunshine, with the snow that covered it during the week swept and shovelled to the base of the advertising hoardings around the sidelines.
Despite the vagaries of the freezing weather and a global pandemic, this games goes ahead. It’s behind closed doors, but there are a few lucky supporters who have vantage points at the top windows of neighbouring houses.
Jamie Vermiglio speaks: The Chorley manager is the head teacher of a primary school in “real life” and tells BT Sport that he’s had to push today’s match to the back of his mind in recent days, as he tries to deal with the fall-out from the latest national lockdown and all the added stress that brings him, his staff, their students and their students’ parents.
He says he is uncomfortable with his side being lumbered with the tag of favourites and adds that he took a call from Derby manager Wayne Rooney earlier this morning, wishing him all the best of luck for today.
That Derby team: With an average age of 19 and without a minute’s worth of senior first team experience between team, Derby County’s players will be lining up in shirts numbered 1 to 11, because none of the players have actual senior squad numbers. Contrary to earlier reports, the team has been picked by Pat Lyons, the club’s senior development coach.
He tells BT Sport that the club lost another four players to Covid yesterday, two of whom would have been starting today. “These players would never normally be put together under normal circumstances,” he says. “?But hey, this is the FA Cupand the dream we have today is to make this crazy week go our way. We want a performanc e the players can be proud of, the club can be proud of and the fans can be proud of ... and obviously the lads’ families.”
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Chorley v Derby County line-ups
Chorley: Urwin, Birch, Halls, Leather, Baines, Tomlinson, Shenton, Newby, Calveley, Hall, Cardwell.
Subs: Miller, Henley, Roberts, Malakai, Putnam, Smith, Marah, Reilly.
Derby County: Yates, Bardwell, Jinkinson, Solomon, Williams, Bateman, Aghatise, Liam Thompson, Cresswell, Hutchinson, Duncan.
Subs: Ibrahim, Christie, Rutt, Ebosele, Rogers, Seb Thompson, Cybulski, Sykes-Kenworthy.
THREE CHANGES from our last outing - Andy Halls, Harry Cardwell & Ollie Shenton return & Sean Miller is back in the squad for the first time since October 🙌
— Chorley FC (@chorleyfc) January 9, 2021
🖤🤍⚽️ #FlyMagpiesFly #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/QUu01BacXp
🔵 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🔵
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) January 9, 2021
Here's Derby County's line-up to face @chorleyfc this afternoon.#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/qNcFefG8aI
How Chorley got here: The National League North side reached the third round for the very first time with a 2-1 win over League One side Peterborough United in November, their fourth consecutive win in this season’s competition.
Before that, they had beaten Gateshead, York City and Wigan Athletic and this televised tie against Derby County is their reweard for that victory.
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Hats off to Chorley’s groundsman
A broken generator saw to it that Chorley’s groundsman Ben Kay had an uncomfortable night camping out on the Victory Park pitch, as he explained on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning ...
🗣“We had a nightmare ... the generator packed in ... believe it or not, the guy who fixed the generator had to come from Derby”@chorleyfc groundsman Ben tells @chriswarburton_ he’s spent all night in a tent on the pitch to make sure today’s game against Derby County goes ahead pic.twitter.com/OGJP5VUJ9Z
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) January 9, 2021
Today's match officials
Referee Kevin Friend
Assistant referees Robert Merchant and Robert Atkin
Fourth official Ross Joyce
FA Cup: Chorley v Derby County
Non-league hosts entertaining a struggling Championship side has all the ingredients of a potential giant-killing, but as Chorley take on Derby County at Victory Park today, nobody is quite sure who the “giants” are.
An outbreak of Covid-19 in the Derby County camp means the club have been forced to send a team made up entirely of U-23s and academy players to fulfil the fixture, a state of affairs that means bookmakers have installed the Lancashire side from the National League North – the sixth tier of English football – as favourites to win.
In the absence of Wayne Rooney, Derby’s academy director, Darren Wassall, will take charge but will be without several more highly regarded members of the under-23 squad who have trained with the first team in recent days.
While not as high profile, this is a similar scenario to that faced by Aston Villa against Liverpool last night, a crucial difference being that the youngsters of Derby County are full time players, while their opponents from Chorley are part-timers with neither a Champions League nor Premier League winner’s medal between them.
Kick-off at Victory Park is at 12.15pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for what promises to be fascinating team news and build-up.
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