AFC Liverpool v Oldham Boro, 28th August 2010


Having a mild allegiance to Warrington's Rugby League team, I did have one eye on how the Wire were doing against Leeds Rhinos in the Challenge Cup Final.  That said, there was never any serious doubt that I would be at Valerie Park (in Prescot) watching AFC Liverpool take on Oldham Boro in a re-arranged First Division match following both sides' FA Cup exit. 
Despite AFC having the best of the early exchanges, it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play.  Oldham could in fact have gone 2-0 up, but thankfully clipped the top of Paul Willis's bar instead.
We did recover and a clever lob from Aaron Stafford (or possible Steve Jones) nearly embarrassed Oldham's keeper who was stranded.  We did get back on terms in the first half through Aaron Stafford, and the same player struck again early in the second half to put us in front.
After getting our noses in front, we continued to dominate.  Oldham's keeper kept it at 2-1 for a long time.  Matters were finally settled on the 82nd minute, as Steve Jones struck with that left foot of his just inside the 18 yard box.  The icing on the cake came in stoppage time as a Karl Gornell wonder strike flew into the top corner to seal a 4-1 win.
Personally, it was a fine day, as Warrington won the Challenge Cup for the second year in a row.  More importantly of course, a satisfying performance by the men in red.  Phil “Staffo” Stafford was deployed in Central Midfield and did well.  The strike partnership between Steve Jones and Aaron Stafford looked very telepathic at times, and a delight to watch.

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