AFC Liverpool from Yesteryear

I spent the first 5-10 minutes in the turnstyle hut.  During this period, I did hear some enthusiastic rattling.  However, on my arrival to the Rattlestation, Dave The Rattler indicated that our passing was shocking, and that our keeper had to make a save to preserve the 0-0 scoreline. The first half then continued in much the same tone.  We were not playing well.  Then on 43 minutes, Ryan Cox got his shot away when faced against a Gate defender.  It trickled in off the near post, and over the line.  So we went in at the interval a goal to the good. After the break, nothing much changed.  It was still very scrappy, and Reds Keeper Ryan Jones was again called upon to keep our clean sheet intact.  But, as much as we were unconvincing, Gate did not cause us too many other problems. As the game moved towards what would appear to be a nervous climax with us holding on, a couple of chances suddenly came our way.  Firstly, a hopeful ball down the r...

When AFC Liverpool travelled to play Stone Dominoes at the end of January 2010, the Reds had not played a League Match in nearly two months due to a prolonged period of snow and ice.   Coincidentally, it was Stone who we played in early December at Valerie Park in that previous league outing.  That day AFC played in blue (as a gesture towards climate change protest) and lost 4-1.  That result put the Dominoes in a comfortable position at the top of the table, whilst AFC were tumbling away from the promotion places and in need of something to halt the slide down the table.   For my part, my journey to the village of Yarnfield (where Motiva Park is located) almost became one of insanity.  As someone who loves walking, I simply did not do my homework properly on the terrain between Stone Station and Yarnfield.  As I started to attempt the road out towards Yarnfield, I realised that there were no pavements and should really get a taxi.  Fortunat...

Going into our midweek game at home to Abbey Hey at the end of March 2011, my feelings were that the next six matches were winnable. The 1-0 defeat at Chadderton the previous Saturday saw us drop to fourth in the table, with Chadderton leapfrogging us into third place. The Abbey Hey match was a game we still had in hand over Chaddy. Indeed, I still felt that achieving promotion was still not totally impossible. The two front runners AFC Blackpool and Runcorn Town were due to face each other the following weekend. When I say I that I felt promotion was not totally impossible, I believed that if we were to win the next six matches, then we could still have found the promotion door slightly ajar when we were due to face Runcorn Town at the Pavilions on Easter Monday. AFC did not get out of the blocks at all during the first half, with no real efforts of note at the Abbey Hey goal. The visitors threatened our goal on at least a couple of occasions. Their number 9 Sam Jones turned...

With the Reds still to register a win in the league, a cup tie in Flixton was potentially a welcome distraction.  Ironically, it was at Flixton's Valley Road ground in which the Reds had come closest to registering a league win back in September.  A 1-0 lead was surrendered going into the final four minutes, as Flixton turned the tables to win 2-1. In an afternoon with the Rattlers' air horns and rattles very noisy throughout, Flixton rarely troubled us.  The shots they did have on our goal, were shots you would expect Denis Barlow to save, on his AFC debut. The Reds set much of the tempo, with Captain Steven Williams particularly impressive.  Williams was very offensive with his play, and had some success in taking the ball past opposing players. With the deadlock not broken at 90 minutes, it was in extra time when the real excitement set in.  Another debutant, James Buckley gave AFC the lead by firing home from the edge of the area following a corner....