FC Village

Report: FC Village 1 Future 1

The Village became the first side to take a point off the League leaders as they held Future to a draw down at a wind swept Levers. The side saw the return of Dava and they thought Knoxy but he got held up at work so it was only the back four that changed from the previous match. Dava returned to right back and Lee slotted over to the left to replace the injured Harper and Dave Ford came in for his debut as he replaced the unavailable Stewy. The bench also saw two new faces yet to make a league appearance as Mike Rutter and Steve Greenfield both joined the squad after pre season injuries had kept them sidelined.

With the strong wind affecting both sides in that it was going across the pitch rather than one end to the other it was down to which side could play the game on the floor. The Village for whatever reason struggled to get their game flowing and were hindered further more midway through the half when they lost Dava to a knee injury which meant Nick moving out to the right, Anthony slotting in next to Fordy and Rutter coming on for his debut down the right wing. By this time however the visitors had taken the lead but once again it took a mistake from the Village defence to present them with the chance. Nick let a cross field ball go over his head thinking no one was near him but there was the Future winger who robbed him and even though the Village had a couple of attempts to tackle him he held them off and drilled home the opening goal. With the home side failing to create anything worthy of noting down they still trailed 0-1 when half time arrived.

Crozzer said a few home truths during the interval about a poor first half and the Village knew they would have to raise their game in the second forty five if they wanted to get their first point in the top flight. They duly did exactly what was asked of them as they dominated the early proceedings without really carving open chance after chance. It was just a case of biding their time and their wait eventually paid dividends. A free kick out on the left was swung in by Peter and when Rutter knocked it back in to the six yard box the ball pinged around a bit and eventually fell to Booey who gleefully rifled it home for the equaliser. Suddenly the Village started to believe that the two points were there for the taking and they started to press the visitors’ goal. Then with about 10 minutes remaining they got their chance to snatch the points when Mikey found himself with a clear run at goal. He bore down on the goal and let fly but saw the keeper parry his effort right in to the path of Rutter who unfortunately hit his shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Had the Village blown it as Future now pressed for a winner and the home side had Jay to thank as his finger tip pushed a long range effort on to the bar and then on to the goal line as the visitors appealed for a goal. The ref waved play on and that was that until a minute from time. The ref failed to give Future a decision and a couple of their players confronted him and it appeared that he had sent two of them off as two of them walked off the pitch. However the ref went over and sorted things out and it was subsequently only one of them who had seen red. With the other player returning to the pitch the ref blew for full time seconds later and the points had been shared. So even though the Village had gained their first point and were the first side not to lose to Future they came off the pitch knowing that overall it was a disappointing display.

Footnote: - Later in the week the Village found that they had been awarded the points for their game against the Willows when the Willows failed to field a side and so now have 3 points to their name.

Team Line-up

FC Village: Hill: Saunders(Rutter), Whorton, Ford, Wilson; Morris, McIvor, Easterbrook, Kearney(M); Byrne, Eaton
Subs not used: Doran, Greenfield, Kearney(L)

More photos from this game click here



	Report: FC Village 1 Future 1 The Village became the first side to take a point off the League leaders as they held Future to a draw down at a wind swept Levers. The side saw the return of Dava and they thought Knoxy but he got held up at work so it was only the back four that changed from the previous match. Dava returned to right back and Lee slotted over to the left to replace the injured Harper and Dave Ford came in for his debut as he replaced the unavailable Stewy. The bench also saw two new faces yet to make a league appearance as Mike Rutter and Steve Greenfield both joined the squad after pre season injuries had kept them sidelined. With the strong wind affecting both sides in that it was going across the pitch rather than one end to the other it was down to which side could play the game on the floor. The Village for whatever reason struggled to get their game flowing and were hindered further more midway through the half when they lost Dava to a knee injury which meant Nick moving out to the right, Anthony slotting in next to Fordy and Rutter coming on for his debut down the right wing. By this time however the visitors had taken the lead but once again it took a mistake from the Village defence to present them with the chance. Nick let a cross field ball go over his head thinking no one was near him but there was the Future winger who robbed him and even though the Village had a couple of attempts to tackle him he held them off and drilled home the opening goal. With the home side failing to create anything worthy of noting down they still trailed 0-1 when half time arrived. Crozzer said a few home truths during the interval about a poor first half and the Village knew they would have to raise their game in the second forty five if they wanted to get their first point in the top flight. They duly did exactly what was asked of them as they dominated the early proceedings without really carving open chance after chance. It was just a case of biding their time and their wait eventually paid dividends. A free kick out on the left was swung in by Peter and when Rutter knocked it back in to the six yard box the ball pinged around a bit and eventually fell to Booey who gleefully rifled it home for the equaliser. Suddenly the Village started to believe that the two points were there for the taking and they started to press the visitors’ goal. Then with about 10 minutes remaining they got their chance to snatch the points when Mikey found himself with a clear run at goal. He bore down on the goal and let fly but saw the keeper parry his effort right in to the path of Rutter who unfortunately hit his shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Had the Village blown it as Future now pressed for a winner and the home side had Jay to thank as his finger tip pushed a long range effort on to the bar and then on to the goal line as the visitors appealed for a goal. The ref waved play on and that was that until a minute from time. The ref failed to give Future a decision and a couple of their players confronted him and it appeared that he had sent two of them off as two of them walked off the pitch. However the ref went over and sorted things out and it was subsequently only one of them who had seen red. With the other player returning to the pitch the ref blew for full time seconds later and the points had been shared. So even though the Village had gained their first point and were the first side not to lose to Future they came off the pitch knowing that overall it was a disappointing display. Footnote: - Later in the week the Village found that they had been awarded the points for their game against the Willows when the Willows failed to field a side and so now have 3 points to their name. Team Line-up FC Village: Hill: Saunders(Rutter), Whorton, Ford, Wilson; Morris, McIvor, Easterbrook, Kearney(M); Byrne, Eaton Subs not used: Doran, Greenfield, Kearney(L) More photos from this game click here Birkenhead & Wirral AFL Div 1 Levers, Saturday 25th October FC Village 1 Easterbrook Future 1