FC Village 3-1 Future
18/04/07 - League

FC Village seriously dented Future's chances of doing the double by turning in an impressive first half performance and enhanced their own hopes of getting promotion. For this last midweek match the side were up against local rivals Future and the Village took a squad of 14 and only made two changes from the team that did so well on the Saturday as Cottier and Martin replaced Jay and Les. Muzza returned from injury to go on the bench as the game kicked off nearly 20 minutes later due to the late arrival of the visitors. However the Village made the best start possible as they were ahead inside the opening three minutes when Sweeney broke free down the right and his volley was well saved by the keeper but the ball came straight out to him and he smartly headed home. What a great start and things get better soon after when once again the flying Sweeney got sent free down the left this time and he cut in and drilled his shot home past the keeper at the near post for his fifteenth of the season. The Village were flying and could easily have added to their total as they dominated the play forcing a fair number of corners and come close on several occasions. Sweeney, Colin and Nic all came close and they were finally rewarded just before the half time whistle when once more Sweeney was put clear down the left and this time when he ran in to the area he pulled the ball back for Colin to tap in to an empty net. The Future players insisted there was an offside initially but the ref stuck with his decision and the Village came off for the interval well worth their lead. They knew the second half was going to be tough as Future were going to come at them from the restart and the first 10 minutes were crucial. They looked as though they had done the hard bit when the ref gave Future a life line back in to the game. The visitors had a free kick and when the ball came in to the box it fell nicely for one of their forwards who fell as he got in his shot but it went straight to one of his colleagues in an offside position. He spun and fired home amid the protests from the Village defenders but the ref said the initial shot had come off a home player and put him on side. You can’t say anything more about that one. Future were really up for it now and they started to bombard the home goal as they firstly hit the bar from a free kick and then Jay had to tip a header on to the bar and from the rebound Leigh headed off the line. Close calls but the side weathered the storm and started to claw their way back in to it. They now had a couple of chances that flashed wide and Lee nearly got his first goal of the season but his effort was hacked off the line. The Village had to make two substitutions as Muzza replaced the injured Martin and Mike R came on for Lee who had to go off to work. Both of these got down and did their jobs and the game ticked by without any further incidents to end up 3-1 to the Village. An excellent victory for them and a good display to go with it that according to the Future manager killed off any hopes they had of catching top side Black Horse Wallasey for the league title. The Village remain up there near the top but realistically they have to win all their remaining games to stand a chance of being promoted.