AFC Liverpool from Yesteryear

The first 25 minutes or so was nothing to write home about.  If anything, Abbey Hey were playing the better stuff.  On a few occasions the visitors were just a final pass away from a good chance.  Just before the half hour mark, Steve Corris won the ball in midfield, and played in Steve Jones, who in turn played in Paul Brown to slot home the opener.  A few minutes previously, Alan Williams and I were in conversation agreeing that Corris's best days in an AFC shirt were probably behind him! With the half time break approaching, the Reds pushed for a second.  A Liam Loughlin header came back off the post and into the keeper's arms.  But the goal did come a few minutes after that as Michael Girvan was found down the right.  He brought the ball inside and was brought down for a penalty.  John Lawless made no mistake from the spot to give the Reds a 2-0 half time advantage.   Watching the match this day with some mates was a chap called Liam, a w...

We met Cymru Premier side Newtown AFC in the preseason of 2019/20. I met Dave Williams at Southparkway, and had a very pleasant drive down to Newtown in Mid-Wales.   This was my first match of pre-season.  We had won all three of our previous pre-season games. On paper, the team who  finished 5th in last season's Welsh Premier League would be a test.   The home side struck first, and we had to work hard to stay in the match. I recall a second Newtown goal got disallowed for offside.   We did gradually work our way back into the match. Our number 2 showed a good bit of skill to take the ball past a Newtown player. Our number 7 Jamie Sproule (I think) was looking quite threatening.   When we did equalise, it was a Callum Schorah beauty into the top corner. And the momentum had shifted. A move down our left saw a Newtown foul go unpunished, where a free kick would have given us a good position. Minutes later we did get a freekick in more or less the same spot,...