Prestwich Heys and Litherland must do it all again on Wednesday night after their FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie ended in a 1-1 draw at Adie Moran Park.

In an entertaining, hard-fought game Heys started brightly but it was the visitors who emerged the stronger and took the lead in the 30th minute with a Jamie McDonald header.

Struggling to get any rhythm Heys we’re glad to hear the half time whistle and came out re-energised at the start of the second period and swiftly levelled with a fine individual goal by Connor Berry before Remyca then withstood a late onslaught to earn the rematch.

Heys were quick out of the traps with Fitzgerald firing over from a tight angle. However, it was Litherland who had the first real chance in the 8th minute when a loose ball brought danger but ‘keeper Russell Saunders retrieved the situation for Heys with an important touch to keep out Carl Peers.

With both sides moving the ball around nicely, Callum Nicholas fired over from the edge of the area for Heys before Berry did likewise after cutting inside.

The visitors were next to show with Saunders having to be on his toes to tip a free kick, driven from deep, by Luke Denson over the bar. It was the prelude to a sustained spell of possession from Remyca and they went close again with a deflected shot from Lee Hughes.

With the pressure building the Merseyside outfit took the lead on the half hour from a corner, which evaded the Heys defence, before finding McDonald unmarked at the far post to head home.

Litherland continued to hold the upper hand, enjoying good spells of possession with Heys attempts to get forward proving limited and lacking purpose.

The half time whistle gave the home side a chance to regroup and they came out strongly on the restart and levelled in superb fashion in the 48th minute. There seemed little danger when Berry received the ball some 30 yards out, but he then set off on a great run though the centre of the Remyca defence, shrugging off several would-be challengers, before steering a super shot into the bottom corner from just inside the box.

Berry was again in the action shortly after as he carved out a chance for Fitzgerald who cut inside before curling a shot over.

Remyca regrouped to enjoy some good possession with Heys limited to sporadic though threatening breaks. Looking to break the deadlock Heys introduced fresh legs and youth in the shape of Ashely Cata, Kaiden Barlow and Tyler James and they began to stretch their opponent’s defence.

Nicholas saw a shot pushed to safety by Ryan Jones to kick start a busy spell for the Remyca keeper who shortly after held a Berry header under the bar.
Jones then pushed out a curling effort from James for a corner from which Rudy Misambo saw a header cleared off the line.

With Litherland showing signs of tiring Heys continued to push and Nicholas was the next to be thwarted as Jones palmed his shot away and when the ball was worked Berry’s shot crept past the post.

It was all Heys now and James saw a shot deflected wide with what was to prove the last chance of the game, leaving the sides to try again on Merseyside with a home tie against Stocksbridge Steels awaiting the winners.

TEAM; Russell Saunders, Jacob Ngoy, Scot Cullen, Kai Haigh, Rudy Misambo, Aaron Chalmers (Capt), Connor Berry, Danny White, Connor Morris, Callum Nicholas, Dylan Fitzgerald Subs; Riche Makelele, Ashley Cata (for Haigh 65 mins), Tyler James (for Morris 70 mins), Omar Mbowe, Mitch Bryant, Kaiden Barlow (for Fitzgerald 70 mins)