ENTERTAINMENT was of a distinctly spartan nature at Canal Street on Saturday as Runcorn's attempts to create a little FA Cup magic produced a less-than-enchanting draw against Blyth.

The match finished goalless as the Unibond Premier rivals struggled to gain any rhythm in the FA Cup second qualifying round.

Runcorn failed to win on their own ground for the fifth time this season.

A home game against North Ferriby awaits the winners of this fixture, representing a good prospect of progressing into the competition proper.

Manager Derek Brownbill said: "I thought it was a difficult cup tie. In the second half we had a lot of posession without realll causing them any problems. But we have a good away record."

Blyth, who last year had a reasonable run in this competition under John Burridge culminating in a 4-3 defeat against Blackpool, had the better of the game.

The first half started brightly for both sides. Runcorn came closest when an Ian Callaghan shot screamed just over the bar.

Chances were rare and the nearest the home side came in the latter part of the first period was a goalmouth scramble which was halted when a Blyth defender cleared his lines.

The second-half was an extremely poor one from Runcorn's point of view, as they failed to create any chances worthy of report.

Blyth dominated and came close on a number of occasions only to be thwarted by Morris, one Linnet who was in good form.

The away team also had a penalty appeal turned down, which the Linnets can be thankful for.

Ian Brady made his first appearance at Canal Street since resigning from Leigh RMI- the next visitors to the Theatre of Dreams - but his promptings provoked no response.

Loud cheers from the away fans greeted the final whistle.

The tie now moves to Croft Park, where Runcorn will need a continuation of this season's fine away form if they want to test themselves against the best players North Ferriby can muster.

Runcorn vs Leigh RMI, Canal Street, Friday October 9, 7.30pm.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.