FC Village

Report: Wellington 5 FCVillage 3

This was a bad day for the Village and some of the reasons why, can't be put down in print. Football wise they were just not at the races as they lost this return match to Wellington. With Timmy still out injured the Village lost Ritchie from the previous game after he had been to the dentist the day before and Kenny who failed to show. Therefore with Machin back from injury he filled in with Crozzer and Steve to complete the line up and they had three subs in Martin, Jason and Mike. The Village knew it was going to be tough on the small pitch down at Rycroft but just before kick off it got worse as they saw who the ref was and despite the pre match talk being about ignoring who he was the side now feel that his presence affects their game.

As it was the visitors made a bright start and after going close several times got the opening they wanted as Machin made the most of a tackle in the box, appeared to be brought down and the ref pointed to the spot. With Maggot having delayed his knee surgery he stepped up and slotted home the resultant penalty kick for his tenth of the season. Things looked good for the Village but with the home side using the long ball as they played down the slope they didn’t get the chance to dominate for long. Wellington forced several corners and midway through the half one of them resulted in one of the players volleying home the equaliser in style. Both sides had the chances to score again before the break but failed to, due to some good tackles and poor finishing so it was still all square at the interval.

Once more it was the visitors who made the better start to the second half and they had soon restored their lead when a good move down the right wing between Steve and Victor ended with Victor bursting in to the box and pulling the ball back for Maggot to rifle in to the roof of the net for 2-1. Yet again their lead didn’t last long as yet another spectacular goal from one of the Wellington players this time a long range effort saw them draw level. Suddenly the game had swung the other way as the home side got their first piece of luck when in a 50-50 tackle Leigh lost out to a Wellington forward who raced away and put his side ahead for the first time in the game. The Village now dug deep and came back themselves and were rewarded for some sustained pressure when Machin who was certainly their M.O.M outpaced a couple of defenders to burst in on goal and slot past the advancing keeper for 3-3. The game could have gone either way now but it was the home side who gained another fortunate advantage when one of their forwards was pulled down in the box even though it appeared he had just fouled Dava in getting the ball and for the second time in the match ref pointed to the spot. The kick was duly converted and Wellington were ahead for their second time. Then with about 10 minutes left came the incident which totally ruined the match. With the Village looking to rescue a point Nick was adjudged to have fouled a player just inside the Village half and both players looked hurt. With the home player down and their bucket man on the pitch and several of the Village players looking to see if Nick wasn’t hurt including goalie Jamie, a home player knocked the ball away from his own injured player and with it still rolling several yards from where the incident had taken place he fired the ball towards goal. Jamie just let it go past him in to the net and amazingly the ref allowed the goal. Some of the Village players approached the ref asking how on earth he could let this go when he suddenly pulled a red card out of pocket and sent someone off. Furious with this latest decision several other players asked him what was going on when he for a reason only known to himself, blew the final whistle and started walking off the pitch. The players stood there amazed at this latest event before realising the game wasn’t going to go on and so left the pitch as well. There was some more trouble later on after everyone had got changed but it was quickly sorted and the Village side left to reflect on this latest setback and the loss of two valuable points

Team Line-up

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

More photos from this game click here



	Report: Wellington 5 FCVillage 3 This was a bad day for the Village and some of the reasons why, can't be put down in print. Football wise they were just not at the races as they lost this return match to Wellington. With Timmy still out injured the Village lost Ritchie from the previous game after he had been to the dentist the day before and Kenny who failed to show. Therefore with Machin back from injury he filled in with Crozzer and Steve to complete the line up and they had three subs in Martin, Jason and Mike. The Village knew it was going to be tough on the small pitch down at Rycroft but just before kick off it got worse as they saw who the ref was and despite the pre match talk being about ignoring who he was the side now feel that his presence affects their game. As it was the visitors made a bright start and after going close several times got the opening they wanted as Machin made the most of a tackle in the box, appeared to be brought down and the ref pointed to the spot. With Maggot having delayed his knee surgery he stepped up and slotted home the resultant penalty kick for his tenth of the season. Things looked good for the Village but with the home side using the long ball as they played down the slope they didn’t get the chance to dominate for long. Wellington forced several corners and midway through the half one of them resulted in one of the players volleying home the equaliser in style. Both sides had the chances to score again before the break but failed to, due to some good tackles and poor finishing so it was still all square at the interval. Once more it was the visitors who made the better start to the second half and they had soon restored their lead when a good move down the right wing between Steve and Victor ended with Victor bursting in to the box and pulling the ball back for Maggot to rifle in to the roof of the net for 2-1. Yet again their lead didn’t last long as yet another spectacular goal from one of the Wellington players this time a long range effort saw them draw level. Suddenly the game had swung the other way as the home side got their first piece of luck when in a 50-50 tackle Leigh lost out to a Wellington forward who raced away and put his side ahead for the first time in the game. The Village now dug deep and came back themselves and were rewarded for some sustained pressure when Machin who was certainly their M.O.M outpaced a couple of defenders to burst in on goal and slot past the advancing keeper for 3-3. The game could have gone either way now but it was the home side who gained another fortunate advantage when one of their forwards was pulled down in the box even though it appeared he had just fouled Dava in getting the ball and for the second time in the match ref pointed to the spot. The kick was duly converted and Wellington were ahead for their second time. Then with about 10 minutes left came the incident which totally ruined the match. With the Village looking to rescue a point Nick was adjudged to have fouled a player just inside the Village half and both players looked hurt. With the home player down and their bucket man on the pitch and several of the Village players looking to see if Nick wasn’t hurt including goalie Jamie, a home player knocked the ball away from his own injured player and with it still rolling several yards from where the incident had taken place he fired the ball towards goal. Jamie just let it go past him in to the net and amazingly the ref allowed the goal. Some of the Village players approached the ref asking how on earth he could let this go when he suddenly pulled a red card out of pocket and sent someone off. Furious with this latest decision several other players asked him what was going on when he for a reason only known to himself, blew the final whistle and started walking off the pitch. The players stood there amazed at this latest event before realising the game wasn’t going to go on and so left the pitch as well. There was some more trouble later on after everyone had got changed but it was quickly sorted and the Village side left to reflect on this latest setback and the loss of two valuable points Team Line-up FC Village: Hill: Saunders, Whorton, Hutton, Wilson; Fowler, Leeds, Doran, Machin; Thurgill(Metcalf), Eaton Subs not used: Church, Richardson More photos from this game click here Birkenhead & Wirral AFL Div 2 Levers, Saturday 6th October Wellington 5 FC Village 3 Eaton(2)(1 pen) Machin