FA Cup First Round Highlights: Curzon Ashton 0-4 Mansfield Town
League One side Mansfield Town beat sixth-tier team Curzon Ashton in the FA Cup to seal a place in the second round of the competition.
It was a far from ideal start for National League North side Curzon, who conceded a penalty kick and were reduced to ten men on 16 minutes after defender Marcus Poscha was given his marching orders for a handball on the goalline.
Lucas Akins then converted the resulting spot-kick before Stephen Quinn added another goal to send the visitors into the break two in front.
Ben Waine and Ben Quinn both scored in the second half to wrap up a comprehensive win at the Tameside Stadium.
It all went wrong for Curzon less than 20 minutes into the tie, Poscha shown a straight red card for a deliberate handball when he stopped the ball from going over the line.
The spot-kick that followed was then slotted into the left-hand side of the net to give the Stags the lead, Akins sending goalkeeper Bobby Jones the wrong way.
Mansfield's lead was doubled at the half-hour mark, George Maris squaring the ball across the box to the waiting Stephen Quinn in space who smashed it home with his right foot.
Waine netted first for the Stags after the break in the 73rd minute, scoring off the post to make it three.
With four minutes of normal time remaining Mansfield made it four through Ben Quinn's finish into the bottom corner.
Mansfield Town were too strong for Curzon Ashton in their FA Cup first-round tie
Curzon Ashton player-manager Craig Mahon told BBC Radio Manchester:
“I’m proud of what the club and players have tried to do today.
"We’ve done everything leading up to this game properly and professionally, the result is tough to take and unfortunately the decision to send off Marcus [Poscha] was a decision that cost us to go out of the FA Cup.
"We got to see at times that we can be dangerous and that was with ten men, so it would have been really nice to see what we could have done with 11 men as we grew into the game."
Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough said:
“We have to give a lot of credit to Curzon for the way they played, first with 11 and then with 10.
“They are above the standard of the league where they are at the minute.
“It is so difficult to play with the same tempo and intent in those situations. There is a tendency to keep the ball without purpose. But we still got the four goals and the clean sheet.”
