FC Village 5-1 Upton FC
25/11/06 - League

An horrendous injury to Edgy marred a fine win for the Village down at Levers as he was taken to hospital 12 minutes form time with a broken leg with the Village leading 5-1 at the time. The ref duly sent off the Upton offender and called a halt to the game. Edgy had a four hour operation on Sunday morning at Arrowe Park Hospital to have a pin inserted in his leg as both of his bones in his lower left leg had been broken. We all wish him a speedy recovery. Back to the match and it’s a shame that a great performance was tainted by this injury especially as the line up had to be reshuffled just prior to kick off. This was because Gavin reported in with an injury and Dava, Nic and Cottier just failed to turn up although later it came to light that two of them had car trouble. So down in numbers meant that Jimmy slotted in at right back and Edgy returning from injury (how ironic) was in at left back with new signing 16 year old Mike O’Brian going straight in to the side in the centre of midfield. Being at home and unbeaten so far the Village wanted a good start to ensure they kept up that record. Going against the wind (always seems windy at Levers) they were using both wings to good effect and started creating chances. However the early goal never arrived and when Upton opened the scoring somewhat against the run of play midway through the half it looked as the new look side might struggle. That opener for the visitors came when Jay misdirected a clearance straight to an Upton forward and even though he made a great save from the resulting shot the ball was easily knocked home by another player. That gave the home team the kick they needed and it only took a couple minutes before they were back on level terms. Colin got the ball on the half way line and slipped Sweeney away and he made no mistake as he rounded the keeper to slot home. Then just before half time the Village took the lead with what was thought to be a contender for goal of the month until another one arrived in the second half. The ball fell to Muzza out on the left wing and seeing that the keeper was off his line he lobbed the ball towards goal and it sailed in the top right hand corner as the keeper ran back and collided with the post injuring himself in the process. Still up at the interval the Village probably won the game within the first couple of minutes of the second half when they scored a third thanks largely to the Upton keeper. Booey put Maggott away down on the right and he beat his defender on the line before his cross went straight to the keeper at the near post only for the ball to slip out his hands and roll in to the net. The Village were on a roll now and it wasn’t long before they had the game won with a fourth goal when Muzza’s corner was flicked on for Maggott to knock over the line at the far post. Then came the goal that was to eclipse Muzza’s first half effort when Lee W took a free kick on the half way line and he picked out Colin who let the ball go over his head, turned and the volleyed in probably the best goal he will ever score. Even the ref took time out to applaud the effort it was that good. 5-1 to the Village and with Upton dead and buried and 20 minutes left it looked on for them to score eight for the third week running especially when Jay made the save of the match to tip one over the bar. However that was all forgotten with Edgy’s injury 12 minutes from time when the ref abandoned the game and sent off the offending Upton player. In fact he was lucky to be still on the pitch at the time as he made numerous fouls in the first half and just before the tackle he had gone in very hard on Booey but the ref let him get away with it. So a cracking win and display and special mention must go to young Mike O for a great debut in midfield as he was a close second to M.O.M Booey.