AFC Liverpool v St Helens Town, 21st March 2013


AFC went into this clash with St Helens Town 14 points clear of Saints, having played four games less.  A win would have been a first for the Reds at the fifth time of asking. 
A win on this night would have also put us on 38 points, which would have represented safety, with half of the league matches still to play!
Saints took the lead in an otherwise uneventful first half with a header, which was judged to have gone over the line.  Alan Williams and I had started rattling, thinking that the defence had just about cleared the ball away! 
The first half was difficult to watch in Shetland-like conditions, and according to Steve Fraser it was not much better in the announcer box of the Valerie Park stand. 
Steve was in the box along with Chairman Chris Stirrup and Match Announcer Alan Harrison.  The topic of conversation in the box had apparently been about funeral songs.
Alan Williams came up with an inspirational move for the second half, which saw myself, him and another supporter (with Dave The Rattler on holiday) move back a bit, to the side of announcer box, where it was a bit more sheltered. Straightaway, we were rattling and (in my case) hooting that bit more enthusiastically.
After a flurry of AFC set pieces, two headed goals from James "Bucko" Buckley and Franny Barry turned the game on it's head!  Although our momentum did stall a bit, Saints barely suggested they would threaten any sort of comeback.  Our first win over Saints was completed in injury time, as Bucko charged down an attempted clearance to run in and score.

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