Harrowby United are beaten by Melton Town in the FA Cup

Harrowby United fell agonisingly short against a decent Melton Town side as they bowed out of the FA Cup on Saturday.

The Arrows went down to a 2-0 away defeat against their United Counties League Premier Division North rivals in the extra preliminary round clash.

Harrowby were missing captain Kemal Yeniberitz as well as Jon Smith and Lewis Marsh plus new signings Marley Hamilton and Ethan Greenidge who are now long-term absentees after picking up injuries in their opening two games.

The Arrows were buoyed by their performance against Newark & Sherwood in midweek and they held their own in the first 30 minutes with both defences on top, new signing Joe Nicholson especially looking comfortable in the right back spot.

With the game evenly poised, Jake Frestle in the Arrows goal pulled off a great save to deny Sam Beaver.

As Melton looked to turn the screw in the first half, Harrowby skipper for the day Rueban Nwadike looked to drive his players forward.

Harry Allcock sent a shot over the home crossbar before the referee blew for half-time with nothing to choose between the sides.

There was still nothing to separate the teams after the break but midway through the second half the defining moment in the game arrived.

As the ball was played through the Harrowby defence, Kairo Edwards-John raced clear.

With the visitors waiting for an offside flag, Edwards-John carried on and slotted home the opening goal past Frestle who was unlucky not to save the shot.

Melton now settled down and played some nice football, but Harrowby's back four really stood firm and went toe-to-toe with their hosts.

A mistake in the middle of the pitch allowed Melton a cheap second goal as Will Norcross fired home a good finish into the top corner of the Harrowby net.

From then on, Harrowby were on top and went looking for a quick response.

The introduction of Brima Daramy gave Melton's defence something different to deal with and Allcock and Taylor Gray both had chances.

Tom Harris looked set to score until he was stopped by a great block by the Melton defence as they defended their goal well.

It wasn't to be for the Arrows in their first venture in the FA Cup for some years but they can be proud of their efforts against one of the top teams in the league and, on another day, it could have been a different outcome.

There will be more positivity for the Arrows as players return from holidays and injuries as they travel to Melton again on Saturday to resume their league campaign. They are then at home on Tuesday night to Deeping Rangers.