West Didsbury & Chorlton v AFC Liverpool, 3rd March 2015

Going into this match on a horrible windy evening in Manchester, West had not won in five matches.  As for ourselves, we had not won in the league for over three months!  So barring a draw, something would have to give.

Our former goalkeeper Stephen Longrigg had returned to the club for this match as a favour to Manager Paul Moore, due to a club goalkeeping crisis, which saw Mooresy himself play at Bacup the previous Saturday.  Unfortunately for the returning Longy, he was beaten within the first few minutes as we fell behind.

As the first half progressed, we did settle.  We were awarded a penalty as Steve Williams was judged to have been fouled in the penalty area, after some good work down the right by Josh Purcell.  The penalty decision was a close call, and for me we got lucky.  Sadly, Ryan Cox's penalty was poor.

As the penalty was awarded, one of West Didsbury's people came over to Alan the Rattler and myself, and asked us if we would like to celebrate our penalty by buying a ticket for their draw.  Having earlier got the 47th minute in injury time in their golden goal competition, I didn't personally fancy it. 

We did create some small openings before half time, but we could just as easily have been going in 2-0 down.  There was one of their chances I especially recall, as a cross from the right found a player unmarked.  Thankfully, the subsequent shot went wide.

Along with much of the travelling AFC Liverpool support, I watched the second half in a new sheltered stand at the opposite goal end from the clubhouse, which also had a view towards the Greater Manchester Metrolink network.  As Alan Harrison arrived to join us all, he jokingly likened West's keeper to a wheelie bin, due to the purple colour of his jersey.

We had shown throughout the first half that this match was certainly winnable.  The second half was to see the men in red really step up to the plate, as our fortunes transformed to secure that elusive first win in three months or so.

Two Ryan Cox goals atoned for the earlier penalty miss to turn it around for a 2-1 AFC lead.  They did strike back to make it 2-2.  But we were not going to be denied, as Josh Purcell scored the winner after a one two with Steve Jones, sparking celebrations amongst the travelling AFC support.

Josh Purcell had also been instrumental in Ryan Cox's second goal.  He skinned their left back, and was almost pulled down before squaring for Ryan to score.  Fellow fan Steve Fraser was hoping that Ryan's upturn in form would continue for Saturday's visit of Runcorn Linnets.

The Reds survived a few late scares, as Longy had a few saves to make.  There was also one passage of play that saw our defence make a couple of blocks.  But we did hold out to complete a very satisfying night in Manchester indeed.

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