AFC Darwen v AFC Liverpool, 22nd August 2015


I caught the club coach to Darwen, which was organised by a fellow supporter, who picked me up from Lime Street with her now husband, before we all caught the coach from the Jolly Miller at 12.30.
Before the match, all of the travelling contingent from the minibus watched Man Utd v Newcastle in the Anchor Pub.  That match ended 0-0, but Man Utd did go close a few times.  
In the final moments of Utd v Newcastle, one of our supporters Kenny used a certain famous phrase of his, which has been very often heard on the terrace at times when AFC have been hanging on.  The phrase is something like "Blow your whistle Titch!" Although, the real word rhymes with titch, but begins with the letter b.
I started the first half of the main event on the balcony of Darwen's modernised clubhouse, having a pint with two of our supporters.  As I joined up with the Rattlers, Darwen seemed to be in the ascendancy.
After a goalless first 29 minutes, Ryan Cox put us in front.  But then, Darwen scored twice to turn the tables on us. At that point, I felt we would be fighting to reassert our authority.
Franny Barry did bring us back level just before the break, with a well taken goal.  In fact, both of our goals were well taken.
We got our noses in front again ten minutes after the break.  It was an exquisite finish by Liam Loughlin into the corner, on the left side of the penalty area, after a one two with Ste Jones.
At 3-2, both sides were showing more signs of tightening things up.  With Ste Jones being substituted on the hour to go to work, we were always going to be lacking a bit of punch up front.
As the game moved towards it's conclusion, I just had that feeling it wasn't going to end 2-3.  Either we would score again to seal a 4-2 win, or Darwen would peg us back to 3-3.  Sadly, it was the latter which happened, as Darwen drew level with six minutes to go with a simple tap in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abbey Hey v AFC Liverpool, 16th September 2017

I was accompanied for this match by Kevin, my friend of many years. We met other supporters in the club house, including Dave The Rattler and the two Chesterfield lads (who are mates of Steve Fraser). On the pitch, we got off to the best possible start. Debutant George Lomax stabbed home from close range, after Joe Whittington had played the ball across the area to keep the ball alive from a corner. For the first twenty minutes we were in complete control. We could have scored a second when a shot was diverted away unconvincingly by the keeper, and just narrowly went wide. Along with Steve, Dave, and the Chesterfield lads, we were stood behind the goal we were attacking in the first half. On a couple of occasions, I played ballboy. Much to the amusement of everyone behind that goal, I tried a spin of the ball with my feet! But then, the home side came back into it. They moved through the left side of our defence with ease, and shot against Jack Cookson's left hand post. The respite...
Read more

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" McCa...
Read more

AFC Liverpool v Morecambe, 26th July 2012

After leaving Valerie Park following our 4-3 pre-season victory over Morecambe, I got a text off my brother in Northampton who had been aware of the scoreline from good old Sky Sports News.  He suggested it must have been a bit of a ding dong game.  Well, not exactly. Two well taken first half goals from Franny Barry gave the Reds a 2-0 half time lead, following an earlier tame shot with his weaker left foot which was saved by the Morecambe keeper.  Steve Williams was particularly influential in the first goal, playing a one two with John Lawless, before Barry was able to pounce to the loose ball and slot home.  The second was a stunning strike cum volley, which I felt had shades of Marco Van Basten in Euro 88. Morecambe did miss a few chances at the other end, including one effort which forced a goal-line clearance.  Of equal significance, the Reds were denied a third as Lee Madin was denied by the Morecambe keeper's fingertips. Their number 10 was put through ...
Read more