FC Village 0-2 Trafalgar Rangers
27/01/07 - League

FC Village's unbeaten home record went for a burton as they lost to fellow title challengers Trafalgar Rangers in the big 'Levers' derby. For this top of the table clash the Village were without the influential Booey and the injured Damo but were able to welcome back Ritchie who returned to the bench after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury. The Village knew that this was going to be a tough game and the pre-match talk was that they needed another lightening start that they seem to come up with for their home games but for once this eluded them. They struggled to get going as Trafalgar took control and dominated the game. Most games are won in the midfield and with the Village just not getting it together there Trafalgar looked the more likely side to score. However apart from the very first minute when Jay had to make a great intervention they never really troubled the Village defence and when the opening goal did arrive just before half time there was an element of luck about it. Given a corner Trafalgar crossed the ball in to the area and the resulting shot from one of their forwards was going straight to Jay when it hit Muzza and took a deflection past him and in to the net. Down at the other end the usually free scoring Village just couldn’t create an opening and although they attacked in numbers the visiting keeper didn’t have to make a save. The second half mirrored that of the first with the Village trying to change things around by switching wingers and then introducing Ritchie back in to the fold for the last half hour. They matched Trafalgar in every department but failed to create the chances with the visitors using their experience to keep the home side out. Then with about ten minutes left Trafalgar got that all important second when the ref instead of giving  handball against Muzza as he had done a couple of minutes before allowed the visitors to play on and their forward ran on to score. The Village kept plugging away but it was wasn’t their day and that unbeaten spell and no home defeats were gone. Now they have to start another decent run to continue their quest to win the league.