Report: Claughton Hotel 2 FCVillage 1

FC Village kicked off the 2007-2008 season with a match against the other ‘hotel’ team down at Bala in Birkenhead Park. For this opening game the Village introduced three new signings in Victor Thurgill, Kevin Machin and Timmy Boden whilst also welcoming back to the fold a few old boys. This helped as the side was without first choice defenders Dava and Nick which meant that the back four was somewhat makeshift and with two of those new players not having played at all in any of the pre season friendlies the side looked a bit disjointed as they kicked off.

With Claughton having a league game already under their belt it was obvious which of the two sides that settled the quicker as the home team dominated the early proceedings and in fact the first half. They were much quicker to get in to their stride and were winning most of the 50-50 balls and so it came as no surprise when they opened the scoring. Having said that even though it was a great shot that flew in, the scorer was a bit fortuitous in the way he had hit it in the first place. Still it was a good goal and when Claughton scored just before the break with a goal that looked well off side they must have thought the hard part had been done. For the visitors it was a case of getting to half time and reorganising for despite having played some neat football in places they hadn’t really tested the home keeper. The referee had already booked a couple of the home team during that first forty five and he would play a big part in the second half as well.

So the Village came out at the restart determined to do better and things suddenly started to click as they got in to their stride and put in the tackles. They replaced Mike with Fowler and now virtually played 4-3-3 as they knew an early goal would give them a good chance as they laid siege to the home goal. Eventually they got their reward as Victor broke down the left and as he managed to evade the advancing keeper he pulled the ball back across the area for Timmy to fire in his first goal for the club. Game on as the Village now knew there was all to play for and the referee would soon help their cause as he sent off the big Claughton centre back for swearing to reduce them to ten men. Suddenly the chances started to come the visitor’s way as Fowler was put in and just when he was going to slide the ball home a defender slid in and made a great tackle. The next chance went to Machin as he broke free but fired just over the bar and then Fowler found himself by the penalty spot but saw his effort hit the foot of the post. The team were forcing a lot of pressure on the home goal and the final decent chance fell to Victor but he was unable to find a way of lifting the ball over the diving keeper.

Eventually the side ran out of time as Claughton dug deep and defended well to secure their win but it was blighted somewhat with a second sending off in the final minute when their right winger got a second yellow card. So overall a disappointing start but the second half performance was excellent and there are some very good players in the team now so the future looks bright as long as they can keep together.

Team Line-up

FC Village: Hill: Wilson, Leeds, Hutton, Metcalf; Richardson (Fowler), Doran, Boden, Machin; Thurgill, Eaton
Subs not used: Harper, Church, King