Wythenshawe Town 3 Runcorn Linnets 1
Match report by By Dave Bettley; pictures by Kelly Jones.
Runcorn exited the Emirates FA Cup after a preliminary round replay performance every bit as disappointing as the result.
Linnets couldn't have wished for a better start, on-loan Blackpool striker Taylor Bowen lobbing them into a 15th-minute lead.
Bowen's attacking intent promised much in the early stages, as if to underline the feeling that Wythenshawe's defence was there for the taking.
It didn't pan out that way, however, and from the moment the Mancunians got back on level terms within 10 minutes of falling behind, they outplayed and eventually overpowered Antony Kay's side.
It took a goal four minutes from the end of normal time, and another three minutes into the seven for stoppages, to break Runcorn's resistance.
The away team had done well to hang on for so long but survival pretty much summed up their ambitions as extra time loomed.
The Yellows created precious little after taking the lead against last season's North West Counties Premier Division Play-off winners.
Substitute winger Luke Wall sent the ball across the face of goal from a good position in a rare second-half raid.
Then, in a desperate attempt to rescue the game at 2-1, Kay looped a header onto the roof of the Wythenshawe Town net. It was all too little, too late.
Wythenshawe's speed to the ball gave the impression that they had two or three extra men.
They mesmerised the visitors with slick passing combinations in the final third, in the first half producing a succession a of long-range shots which were too close for comfort.
Once former Burnley striker George Boyd, twice capped by Scotland and with 600-plus professional appearances and more than a century of goals under his belt, had brought the hosts level, it was virtually all Wythenshawe.
Boyd had made no mistake for 1-1 after latching onto Sam Barratt's ball back towards his own goal as the pressure grew.
Unfortunately, Barratt, making his first appearance of the season after damaging an ankle in pre-season, would later go off injured.
The onslaught on Runcorn's goal only intensified as the game wore on and it belatedly told.
Lee Wilshaw buried a chance from a free-kick, which the visiting defence was unable to clear, to put his team in front.
Boyd soon added his second to remove any lingering doubt, Runcorn being punished after losing the ball in midfield for the umpteenth time, James Hooper this time being dispossessed.
Wythenshawe Town will therefore head to Whitchurch Alport in the First Round Qualifying at the end of the month.
A miserable evening for Linnets was even bleaker due to the cold and wet conditions of what should be high summer.
Runcorn had been unbeaten after three successive league and cup draws but suddenly there is a different slant on the opening two weeks of the campaign. The first month always looked tough.
Hednesford Town, this Saturday's Northern Premier League West visitors to APEC Taxis Stadium, have invested heavily in their team over the summer.
They won't be the pushover they were when beaten 3-0 on the same ground in February. Linnets need a response.
Runcorn Linnets: Bayleigh Passant, Sam Barratt (Peter Wylie, 74 mins), James Short, Antony Kay, Harvey Washington, Sam Carr (Luke Wall, 81 mins), Adam Moseley (James Hooper, 68 mins), Jacques Welsh, Taylor Bowen (Ryan Brooke, 90 mins), Jaden Jones, Will Saxon (Eden Gumbs, 72 mins). Subs not used: Josh Elverstone.
Attendance: 355.
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