WAYNE Goodison believes a second crack at knocking out Ossett Town is the least 1874 Northwich deserved after substitute Adam Whitlock’s late leveller on Saturday.

The youngster scored in the second minute of added time, 60 seconds after Alex Peterson had put the visitors in front, to clinch a FA Cup third qualifying round replay.

“It would have been cruel to lose,” said the Northwich co-manager.

“When they go in front, a part of you is thinking ‘well, that’s it’.

“But a team is often most vulnerable just after they’ve scored, and Ossett perhaps switched off to allow Adam in behind them.

“We left it late, but I think we did more than enough to still be in the competition.

“Afterwards we quietened the lads down in the dressing room and joked with them that they really don’t want to lose in the FA Cup!”

The home team, who have progressed through four rounds already, were left to play catch-up after Peterson prodded in an opening goal for their higher-ranked guests inside five minutes.

And they rarely looked like restoring parity before the interval either.

Goodison said: “They nullified us.

“We didn’t play like we’re capable, and we felt as if we’d been off the pace in terms of pressing them when they had possession.

“We told the lads [at half-time] that they needed to get the ball into wide areas more quickly, and that’s something we got better at as the game went on.

“That helped us to cause them problems, and I thought our best spell was in the moments before and just after we scored.

“At that moment, we were in control and it was their management team that was changing things.

“We were disappointed with their [second] goal; we lost the ball cheaply and then were caught out because we’d committed players to attack.

“But the heart and endeavour those lads showed in response was unreal.”

1874 Northwich will now travel to West Yorkshire for a replay on Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm.