14/03/2010 - Report by Steve Hill

Report: FC Village 4 Moreton 2

The Village made it two wins in a row as they beat Moreton down at Levers with a five star performance from Ritchie Stenhouse and his new boots. Yet again the side was forced to make a couple of changes from the previous game as Nick was moving in to his new house and Scott was injured. Therefore Danny slotted in to the back four, the side went 4-4-2 as Josh replaced Scott on the wing and Ritchie was persuaded to start up top with Spud despite having no boots and with no Niko or Jay, Bearhead was left as the sole sub. With it obvious Ritchie was going to be hampered by his footwear, the watching Toby kindly offered to pop to the local sports shop and purchase a pair of size 10’s for him and these new boots would play a significant part in the second half.

With both sides greatly changed from their encounter a few weeks back it was obvious this match would pan out different to that one on all accounts. The Village still used their wings for most of their attacks as both Jamie and Josh defended and attacked when required. The defence once again looked solid with the two Danny’s dominating the centre and Fletch and Stewy controlling the wings. After forcing several corners and half chances it took a mistake from the Moreton defence to give the Village the opening they needed. A back pass was fumbled by the keeper and it gave the quick thinking Spud the chance to nip and nick the ball to slot in to an empty net for his third goal in two games. Half chances came and went at both ends but the Village still led by that single goal at the interval.

Ritchie now had the chance to put on his new wonder boots and they appeared to be like ‘Billy’s boots’ as he went on to dominate the next 45 minutes virtually on his own. As the Village began to open up the visitors defence the chances started to flow as the front four all spurned the opportunity to get that all important second goal. Then after Ritchie had seen the Moreton keeper keep out two of his goal bound efforts with good saves he broke in to the area once again and this time curled his shot wide of the keeper for 2-0. Minutes later things looked done and dusted as the home side notched a third when the ball fell to Ritchie inside the six yard box and he knocked it in for his second of the match. Cruising now and with Moreton showing little threat in attack it came as a surprise when with about 20 minutes left the visitors got what appeared to be just a consolation effort. A free kick was whipped in to the edge of the area and it came off the back of their centre forward’s head but looped perfectly over the finger tips of Jack in to the net for 3-1. Then when Moreton scored again just before the end when the Village failed to clear a corner and one of their players nudged home from close range it was suddenly a nervy end to the match. The Village had a great chance to kill things when straight from the kick off Matty W on in place of Josh was sent clear but he fired wide. However with virtually the last attack of the game Ritchie yet again broke in to the Moreton and rounded the keeper to the goal line before pulling the ball back for Jamie to shrug off his marker and knock home for number four. Seconds later it was all over and the Village had won an important game in their quest not be drawn in to a relegation battle.

Team Line-up: Hughes(J): Fletcher, Jones, Beattie(D), Morrell(Stewart); Beattie(J), Easterbrook, Cottier, Dunroe(Ward); Stenhouse, Greenfield
Subs not used:-

More photos from this game click here