AFC Liverpool v Ashton Athletic, 6th August 2014


It was AFC's first competitive home game at College Road following the summer move from Prescot. It got off to a perfect start on 8 minutes, as Ryan Cox got on the end of a good move to give us the lead.  The goal had been a little bit against the run of play.  That said, our keeper Ryan Jones did not have a save to make at that point.
The Reds went on to control the first half.  My recollection was that Ashton only threatened once, as a shot from outside the area just went wide.  We were putting the visitors under pressure as the first half drew to a close, but we just could not make our dominance count. 
Within 10 minutes of the restart, we were down to ten men as midfielder Carl Peers got two quick bookings.  They were both for a late challenge.  Myself and the other Rattlers missed the first challenge, and were surprised when the referee showed a red card for what was the second challenge.  I got filled in on Peers' first indiscretion later on.
There was no surprise as the visitors got back into the game, and equalised after a well worked move was headed home.  They then looked comfortable in possession, and came close to taking all three points on at least one occasion.
The game should have swung back our way when Ronnie Morgan got denied a clear penalty, after being fouled by their keeper in going up for the ball.  The ref instead judged that it was Ronnie (having just been booked for kicking the ball away) who had committed the foul.
We did hold onto the point, having played for over half an hour with ten men.  We had also held on to win in our opening match the previous weekend in similar circumstances.  I was hoping that there was not going to be a pattern of bad discipline about to develop.
After the match, I got the train at Blundellsands with a chap called Tom.  Tom comes to our matches every now and then.  It was he who filled me in regards Carl Peers' first booking.
Tom and I were joined by a chap I had never seen before, who had been to the match.  I initially thought he was a bit of a character.  This chap was from Bootle, and was pleased that AFC were now playing in a more convenient location.
The chap liked the AFC Rattling experience.  He did though have his own views on how AFC could improve the matchday experience, such as the introduction of flares.  That did not go down to well with Tom.  As for my own feelings, I felt this chap was full of ****!

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