Witton Albion 2 Bamber Bridge 0, FA Trophy

WITTON Albion made progress into the second round of the 20/21 Buildbase FA Trophy with a convincing 2-0 win over Bamber Bridge at Wincham Park.

Two first-half goals were enough to seal victory for Carl Macauley's side, who move on to face Nantwich Town in round two on Tuesday evening.

It was a midfield battle in the opening stages, with no real goalmouth action until the deadlock was broken on 24 minutes.

Nick Ryan floated in a deep free kick which Will Jones leapt and flicked a header to divert the ball into the corner of the net.

Ten minutes later, Witton doubled their advantage with a fantastic flowing move from one end to the other.

Tom Owens regained possession on the edge of the Albion penalty area and drove forward. He linked well with Scott Bakkor, who in turn played a one-two with Isaac Baldwin who had made a marauding run from defence.

The latter won the ball from a lucky deflection on the edge of the Brig area, turned and fired home.

The second half saw plenty of action at both ends of the pitch, as Brig looked to get back in the game while Albion looked to put the tie out of sight.

There were chances for Bakkor, who twice went through on goal but he had one effort cleared off the line by a defender before hitting the side netting with his second effort.

Baldwin could have scored a second – the full-back going close with a 25-yarder which flew inches over the crossbar.

Bamber Bridge had chances of their own – Chris Renshaw made a good save to deny a low shot from the right edge of the area while they also struck an upright with a shot from distance which took a wicked deflection that wrong-footed Renshaw but bounced out to safety.

Albion always looked in control, though, playing some lovely neat football despite heavy conditions.

And so they progressed through to round two where Nantwich Town await, a home game to be played on Tuesday, December 15, kick off 7:45pm at Wincham Park