Leeson goal helps Spartans through

Last updated : 10 November 2008 By Tony Scholes
Andrew Leeson
Pic courtesy of Blyth Spartans FC
Incredibly only three of those 21 players were on winning sides, five were losers with thirteen of them involved in draws, and there's no doubt that pride of place over the weekend has to go to full back Andrew Leeson who was not just one of the three winners but also scored an important goal.

Leeson came as close as possible to making a Burnley debut without actually doing so. Three times he was named as a sub for the first team in the 2002/03 season but wasn't brought on in any of them.

After being released, and following a trial at Bury, he signed for Blyth Spartans ahead of the 2003/04 season and on Saturday was in their side that produced one of the shocks of the round with a 3-1 win against Shrewsbury.

Leeson scored the third goal in the second half in a game that saw former loan player Graham Coughlan in the opposition line up and Marc Pugh, another player to get as far as being named on the bench for Burnley, one of the unused subs for the Shrews.

The only other winners were Keith Lowe, for Kidderminster against Cambridge United and Delroy Facey who played in Notts County's win over Sutton United. Another link between those two games is Steve Cotterill's original backroom team. Mark Yates is now manager of Kidderminster whilst Dave Kevan is assistant boss at Notts County.

The other goalscorer was Michael Ricketts. He netted for Walsall to give them a 1-0 lead in the first half at home to Scunthorpe, but it was 1-1 by half time and in the end Scunthorpe won it 3-1 against Jimmy Mullen's team.

Two drawn games featured no less than three former Clarets each. At the Fraser Eagle Stadium John Mullin was in the Accrington side that drew 0-0 with Tranmere who included both Danny Coyne and 'Our Ian' in their side.

Down at Kenilworth Road there was another 0-0 draw between Luton and Altrincham. Paul McVeigh got his third start of the season for Luton and in the second half he was joined by Garreth O'Connor who came on as a substitute. In the Altrincham side was defender Mark McGregor.

In yet another 0-0 draw Craig Mawson started in goal for Droylsden at Darlington. However, he was forced off with an injury after nineteen minutes. Lee Roche was also in the Droylsden squad but was named as a substitute and wasn't used.

Of four others who were unused subs, three of them were goalkeepers. The exception was defender Frank Sinclair who was on the bench for Lincoln in their draw with Kettering. The three keepers were Andy Marriott for Exeter in their defeat to Curzon Ashton, Nathan Abbey as Franchise lost to Bradford City and Michael Hale who was on the bench for Fleetwood as they drew with Leiston.

That leaves just three more and all played in draws. Steve Guinan was in the Hereford side held by Dagenham & Redbridge and Drissa Diallo played in Cheltenham's draw with Oldham.

Finally Gifton Noel-Williams became the first player to play for both Burnley and Yeovil when he made his debut for them following his loan move from Millwall. He too was involved in a draw against Stockport.