Gainsborough Trinity crashed out of the FA Cup following a 3-2 defeat to Anstey Nomads at the KAL Group Stadium despite making it to the first round in both of the last two years.
The Holy Blues progressed to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup after beating Leamington 3-0 on Tuesday, September 22, with Javelle Clarke, Lewis Butroid and Fraser Preston scoring the all important goals.
In the Northern Premier League Russ Wilcox’s men have had a mixed start to the 2026/27 season, sitting 11th place after nine games and accumulating 13 points in that time.
Their opponents Anstey Nomads were on good form going into the game as they currently occupy sixth place in the Southern League Premier Division Central after earning 15 points from nine games.
Visitors take the advantage
Trinity put the ball in the net early through former Lincoln United striker Connor Brown who found himself clean through on goal but the linesman had his flag up to deny Trinity from gaining the advantage 14 minutes in.
The hosts then almost broke the deadlock on the 20 minute mark after Ben Blythe played a clever pass into Jordan Helliwell, who took the ball into his stride before smashing it narrowly wide and into the side netting.
A quiet first half almost saw the deadlock broken 15 minutes after the previous chance as Brown battled well against the defender to go through on goal; the 20-year-old played it into the middle but Helliwell couldn’t quite get the shot away.
Brown was in the thick of it again just three minutes later, as a deflected shot found its way to his feet, he struck the shot well but goalkeeper Harley Price did well to make a fine reaction save at his near post.
But it was the visitors who opened the scoring just before half-time, with Tristen Thomas finding the corner with a superb strike from outside the box to make it 1-0 to Anstey Nomads, drawing a close to a reasonable uneventful first half.
A much more eventful half
The second half very nearly started with the visitors doubling their advantage, with Luis Rose flashing an effort just wide of the far post from inside the box less than two minutes after the restart.
Trinity began to then seriously apply pressure to Anstey Nomads following a triple change on the 51st minute, with substitute Theo Williams putting in a dangerous cross that was eventually cleared by the away sides defence after a scramble in the box.
Just six minutes later Lewis Butroid found a pocket of space around the penalty area and struck a scintillating strike at goal that went just over the crossbar, before the captain sent another good effort goalbound that was well saved by Price.
Substitute Ashley Jackson scored from the resulting corner to equalise for Trinity, towering over the defenders and thumping a header into the bottom corner of the net just shy of the hour mark.
A penalty was awarded to the visitors on the 70th minute mark after an Anstey attacker was pulled down in the area, with Tendai Chitizia converting from the spot with conviction.
Trinity almost hit back five minutes later, with Jordan Helliwell trying his luck from range and striking the crossbar as the visitors desperately cleared the ball away from danger.
The tie was then wrapped up by Tobias Liversedge with exactly ten minutes to go, as the midfielder found his way into the Trinity box and slotted it into the net from a tight angle.
Brown gave the hosts hope with just three minutes to go, as he tapped the ball home from close range, but that wasn’t enough for Trinity as they crashed out of the FA Cup despite applying some late pressure.
Next up for Trinity is a clash against Whitby Town on Tuesday night in the league, with Trinity hoping to jump up the table to boost their push for promotion.