Report: Wirral Wanderers 1 FCVillage 3

The Village gained some form of sweet revenge over old rivals Wirral Wanderers with a hard fought but deserved win in the freezing cold down at Coronation Park. For this return fixture the Village were already missing Leigh and the recovering Maggot when they found that Kenny was working and then at the last minute Mike G failed to show for his debut which meant that Mike Jones who had turned up just in case was signed on before the start for his debut and assistant manager Dave became the only sub. Ritchie was asked to do a job in the back four and Mike J was put wide right otherwise the rest of the line up was the same that did so well against Avenue.

Having dropped a point earlier in the season in the home match when the ref disallowed a perfectly good goal the Village were determined there was not going to be a repeat performance. As in their previous encounter they started well but found themselves a goal down in the opening 10 minutes. Having said that they should have already had one penalty when Mike appeared to be brought down in the box and Pete had a great chance when in a one on one chance he skewed his shot wide. The goal for the Wanderers came from a throw in which the Village allowed in to the area and was swept home by one of the home forwards. The Village had chances to equalise as both Machin and Mike could have done better with their efforts and then they should have had a penalty when Machin was brought down but once again the ref waved play on. Wirral were using the wind and the sun to good effect by using the long ball all the time and they nearly doubled their lead but for an excellent save from Jay. However the Village were not to be denied and although there was an element of luck in their equaliser it was a well worked and deserved goal. Machin cut in from the left and got the ball to Mike whose shot fell nicely in the path of the in running Ashley and although he looked offside there was no whistle as he clipped the ball past the static keeper.

So it was all square at the turn around and even though the Village had lost the advantage of the sun they went on to dominate the second forty five. After coming close several times the visitors took the lead for the first time in the game when Pete drove a free kick towards the goal and when the keeper fumbled the ball and it appeared to have crossed the line Ashley steamed in to head in to make sure. Both players claimed the goal and I think they are still arguing about whether it had crossed the line or not. The side should have also had what could have been a third penalty when Booey was brought down in the area but even though the ref gave the team a free kick he awarded it outside the box .Other chances came and went with Nick being guilty of missing probably the easiest from just a few yards out and the keeper made some saves although most of these were straight at him before the side scored that all important third goal. This time Pete was definitely the scorer as he out jumped everyone and headed home Machin’s corner to make it 3-1. With this two goal cushion the Village knew the points were in the bag as Wirral had hardly had an attack themselves all half and now introduced Dave in place of the knackered Mike for his first game this season. They still looked the more likely side to score until the last minute or so when Wirral broke through and Jay had to make another excellent save before Booey threw himself in the way of the rebound and from the resulting corner Wirral hit the post. That was the last of the action and the Village’s last game of 2007 sent the team home in a very happy mood as they look forward to the New Year.

Team Line-up

FC Village: Hill: Wilson, Whorton, Aspey, Harper; Jones(Sadler), Leeds, Oldam, Machin, Byrne; Thurgill
Subs not used:

More photos from this game click here