Brazilian like strike from Rio fires Heys to victory at AFC Darwen

By Rick Barrett

After the tie originally scheduled to be played at Adie Moran Park the previous Friday was postponed, the decision was made to switch this Macron Cup tie to the 4G facility at AFC Darwen’s Anchor Road ground on a cold Wednesday night.

Heys came into the game on the back of four straight wins in all competitions and were at it from the get-go with some good early possession.

Pressing hard, the most notable chance came as early as the third minute when a ball over from the left fell to Max White on the right whose hard shot was narrowly deflected past the post for a corner.

But as lively as Heys were early on it was Darwen who broke the deadlock on 8 minutes when the ball deflected into the path of Aspen Feathers down the left who crossed to Jamie Gibson on the right hand side edge of box to fire past Heys Keeper Russell Saunders, bottom left, for 1-0 to the hosts.

Unfazed by the early strike the visitors pressed forward and a lovely ball into the middle from captain Jacob Wood found Rio Wilson Heyes on the edge of the box, but he dragged his shot wide.

Shortly after it was Joe Rothwell playing a nice ball through the middle and he found Niall Sultan, bearing down on goal, who saw his shot deflected wide.

Indeed it was Rothwell himself who had Heys next best chance on 37 minutes when a shot from edge of the box was fired straight at Darwen keeper Jim Brindle who spilled the ball and whilst trying to recover went down with a suspected broken hand and after a lengthy stoppage was substituted.

Heys equaliser came at a perfect moment, right on the stroke of half time as a ball by the energetic Sultan came in from the right was knocked into the box to find centre half Adrian Bellamy, six yards out, who's shot nestled in the bottom right corner of the net, no more than Heys deserved at the break

There was no let up from Heys after the interval as on 47 minutes Max White ran down the left and crossed over to Mark Ayres, at the far post, who just headed wide from close range.

By now Heys were in full flow with wave after wave of attack which the home side had no answer to. Most notably Anthony Hall was mesmerising down the left in the second half but it was Rio Wilson Heyes who stole the show on 61 minutes giving his side the lead when, on the left, he unleashed a shot from all of 25 yards which rose and then dipped into the top right corner of the goal sending the Heys contingent wild.

Heys continued to press with Hall doing most of the damage down the left enabling Wilson Heyes and Bellamy both to have chances but could not convert.

The only sombre note for the visitors was on 65 minutes when Max White, who had been busy all night, limped off with an ankle injury and replaced by Heys debutant Francesco Frangillo.

As the clock ticked down Heys showed no sign of letting up notably Brad Sixsmith in the middle orchestrating the majority of all that was good about Heys play.

Two further chances in the last couple of minutes with shots from Rothwell and Hall brought great saves from the replacement Darwen keeper.

So, 2-1 to Heys it finished taking the unbeaten run to five games, confidence seems to be high and so it should on this form and despite a few missed chances in this game Heys were clinical when needed.

Heys will be at home to either AFC Liverpool or Abbey Hulton in round three with the tie to be played Saturday 7th December ko 3pm.

TEAM: Russell Saunders, Jacob Wood(Capt), Daniel Lambert, Joe Rothwell, Adrian Bellamy, Mark Ayres, Anthony Hall, Brad Sixsmith, Rio Wilson-Heyes , Max White , Niall Sultan Subs; Francesco Frangillo (for White 65 mins) Dom Slaven, Dany White, Jamie Sinnott (for Sultan 85 mins), Jordan Pendlebury (for Wilson-Heyes (78 mins)