AFC Liverpool v Wythenshawe, 19th December 2023

Exactly a week earlier we lost 5-0 at home against lowly Burscough. It was in fact our second 5-0 home defeat of the season having lost against Lower Breck in the FA Cup back in August. Wythenshawe, who had never been relegated in their history, were playing at this level for the first time. They were also the surprise League Leaders ahead of Bury.


Following on from the Burscough defeat, we had also lost 3-0 at Pilkington on the Saturday. Rather predictably the early phase of the game was very much about staying in the game. It was heartening to see the lads showing an endeavour to battle. As the early minutes clocked up without much Wythenshawe threat and a clean sheet intact, the more our supporters began to believe we could perhaps nick a draw.


Around the 15 minute mark one of our boys was down injured. But the visitors carried on playing, which did not go down too well. Five minutes later a misplaced back pass from a Wythenshawe defender was collected by Billy "Whiz" McCarthy. With the Keeper quite a way off his line, Billy chipped him to send the home support into delight. With the cold and windy conditions, I ran the length of the Crossender Road with my rattles in the air.


The remainder of the first half passed with little hint the League Leaders would draw level, and this continued into the second half until just after the hour mark when a curling cross cum shot from outside the area sailed past Danny Hamlett. The effort may have taken a deflection.


This may have been a point when we would take stock of our expectations. But then 5 mins later, as the visitors defence tried to clear their lines from a cross, it fell to Matty Brown. Matty sensationally hit his effort in off the bar to get his first goal for the senior team and put the Reds' faithful back into dream mode.


Rather predictably we had to battle. But we did also start to get more space on the break. Adam Moorcroft had a run at their box late on, and shot against the post with the angle always slightly against him.


We did hold on to beat the League Leaders and put us in the good books of Title favourites Bury who were due to visit the MTA ten days later. Having lost so emphatically against lowly opposition a week earlier, this night was another reminder that the game we all love can be crazy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AFC Liverpool v Alsager Town, 31st October 2009

It was on the last day of October 2009 that I watched my first Vodkat (North West Counties League) League Cup match with AFC Liverpool. It is possibly not the first match that I ever watched in that competition as over twenty years previously I had watched one Formby match which I recall had been in a Cup Competition against a team from Greater Manchester. If I did purchase a programme from that game, and I think I may have done, I have unfortunately been unable to find it. One reason the game against Alsager sparks a little memory is that it was very rare at that point to have a League Cup match played at home due to the Groundshare arrangement we had back then with Prescot Cables. Fixture clashes with Cables had often meant our home ties got switched. Luke Hebblewhite, Alsager's keeper was very shakey early on, so it came as no surprise when his fumble presented David Ojapah with a simple tap in on twenty four minutes to give the Reds the lead. However, we were sloppy just before...
Read more

Lower Breck v AFC Liverpool, 16th November 2023

The Anfield Sports Centre had not been the kindest down the years in terms of winning matches.  In fact, beside a few draws, we were still awaiting our first victory. Another sore point was Breck's 5-0 FA Cup victory at the Marine Travel Arena earlier in the season. Plus, added into the mix was a night of very unpleasant weather. The previous year we went down 0-2, and when Lower Breck took the lead on 13 mins, my mind raced back to 12 months earlier and the ease at which the home side could seemingly score against us. There seemed little resistance from our defence. Mind you there did seem to be a ball almost caught by a Breck player in the build up and a hint of handball. But we did strike back just over 10 mins later. Right Back Joe Cunningham moved into the box with purpose. His shot deflected in off a Breck defender, and soon it was the men in Grey (a changed Grey of course) on the front foot. One effort of note got deflected away for an AFC corner. As I was making my way roun...
Read more

AFC Liverpool v Longridge Town, 8th February 2023

A routine night around the turnstile area started with Vice-Chair Greg Armstrong tripping over a carpet of all things. Now you may wonder what a carpet was doing there, but that is another story. After I vacated my turnstile duties, I was caught chatting with George Marsh about the gate money, as Billy "Whiz" McCarthy struck to put us 1-0 up on 18 minutes. Soon enough I got to the Crossender Road End, and Billy found himself running at the Longridge defence, before letting fly from 20 yards, to fly in. This was on 24 minutes. Then three minutes later Mark Madden slid in to beat the keeper to a loose ball and make it 3-0. Myself, Steve Fraser and Chris Dace were talking about which player may score a hat-trick. We really did look very dominant. But then the game changed. There was an incident where Tom Douglas was judged to have made a serious foul, when it was questionable he had even committed a foul. He was sent to the sin bin. Arguably, controversially so, after an interve...
Read more