AFC Liverpool v Winsford United, 28th November 2015

I missed Winsford's opening goal to see them go into an early lead, due to my early match volunteering. I later spoke to Josh Purcell's Dad in the bar, and he said the goal had similarities with Winsford's two goals at their place a few weeks previously.  

The rest of the first half was not a particularly brilliant match, especially due to the not so good weather. Apart from the Reds forcing a series of corners midway through the first half, the game was not offering much.

Before half time, Ryan Cox was brought down by their keeper, and a penalty was awarded. The keeper went into the Ref's notebook, and Liam Loughlin equalised from the spot.

After the break we went into the lead with an absolute beauty of a strike by Matty Williams on the volley, which came about after a deft ball into the inside right channel by Steve Jones. It was certainly one of the best AFC goals I had seen at College Road at that point in time, just over a year after we had moved from Prescot.

A Ryan Cox side foot, following a left wing cross made it 3-1. Until that point, I was not convinced that either side had done enough to warrant victory.

Coach Mick Kinsella had come on as a half time substitute for goalkeeper Ryan Jones. When Mick made a hash of a routine punch, Winsford took advantage and it was 3-2.

A penalty decision for Winsford not long afterwards completed the transformation from a very poor match at half time, into one that was incident-packed. The penalty decision was a very poor decision. Mick Kinsella got his hand to the ball, rather than the man. But the Ref had read it so wrong. When Samuel Cook hit the top of the bar, I tooted on that horn of mine with more enthusiasm than ever.  

We still needed to survive another let off with bodies getting in the way of a goal bound shot. The victory was secured when Liam played in Ryan to slot the ball between keeper and post.

As I have mentioned, I chatted with Josh Purcell's Dad in the bar afterwards. As well as the Winsford goal I missed, he told me about how Josh had forgot his shin pads. Josh phoned his Dad about ten minutes into the match, and got him to drive to his flat to collect them. As a result of his Dad's efforts, Josh came on as a late substitute, and his pace did give Winsford some problems as they were chasing the game.

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