In a thrilling game, FC United of Manchester staged it’s first FA Youth Cup Tie at Broadhurst Park. The 294 spectators were rewarded with a 6-2 win as a Cameron Horner hat-trick along with two from Jack Tinning and one from Keenan Tuck secured a tie against Altrincham in the next round.Urged to set a high tempo from the start the reds exceeded expectations, scoring after just 18 seconds.

Southport had kicked off and were playing in their own half trying to settle nerves when Cameron Horner pounced to score his first. It was 2-0 little more than five minutes later as Horner scored his second.

It was perhaps a surprise that there were no further goals in the first half but not truly unexpected that Southport recovered from that initial blast and began to pose a threat of their own. They had much of the possession for the rest of the half but the home defence dealt capably and Alec Robinson in the home goal was not seriously tested.

The second half started in the same manner as the first as Horner completed his hat-trick inside a minute and Jack Tinning made it 4-0 with not much more than five minutes played.

That seemed to be enough to close the game as FC sought to play patient possession football and wait for further chances. It seemed to be working as the game reached its last quarter of an hour. Southport had other ideas as Tom Grimshaw scored direct from a corner kick and Leon Townley broke clear of a hesitant defence to make it 4-2.

That livened up the visiting support and it seemed that we may be in for a nervous last few minutes but somehow we should have known better. Tinning got his second and United’s fifth with a free kick from the corner of the box. A host of red shirts tried to get a touch on the ball driven in to the box but no-one did and the ball evaded Ethan Smith in the Southport goal.

Horner turned provider in the closing minutes as he bamboozled a Southport defender in the right corner and ran in to cross. Keenan Tuck was on hand to supply the finish.