Wigan Robin Park v AFC Liverpool, 16th March 2010

Down the years we seemed to have had the misfortune a few times of playing at the Robin Park Arena, whilst Wigan Athletic were also playing next door.  I saw at least one of our supporters on my way into the Robin Park Arena have an understandable moan about the lack of parking spaces.  From the various noises from across the way, it was not too difficult to work out that Aston Villa had in fact gone on to win that particular game 2-1.

Onto the real stuff now, and this encounter turned out to be a comfortable evening for AFC Liverpool.  This was very surprising considering both league matches that campaign had only one goal in them.  Having already been denied by Robins Keeper Jay Faulds, AFC took the lead through Chris Parkes midway through the first half.  His superb strike from just outside the box brought a decent attempt from Faulds to keep it out, but fortunately this time Faulds' luck was out.
AFC extended the lead into the second half through Karl Gornell.  The third and fourth goals were both headers scored by Captain Liam Coyne.  The win was fully deserved, considering AFC had a few missed chances.  On one second half missed chance, Chris Parkes showed some outstanding technique before unleashing an unstoppable shot which shook the frame of the goal.
Wigan to be fair had also worked our keeper a few times in the first half when there was only one goal in it.  In fact on a couple of occasions during the second half, our keeper Paul Willis was very fortunate to find his goal escaped intact, having been caught in no man's land.  On one particular occasion the score was only 2-0.  Had the Robins been able to take advantage at that point, the game would no doubt have become much more interesting from a neutral perspective.
I was sat watching this particular match next to Steve Fraser.  Whilst we knew each other reasonably well from the Club's early days, it was probably at this particular match when he and I started to get to know each other better as we chatted about our working lives and his trip the following evening to Germany to watch Barcelona take on Stuttgart.  Steve was suggesting that we should introduce an away kit for the following season in the green and gold colours that were used by Man Utd supporters in their anti-Glazier campaign.  A strange thing occurred later when I was waiting at Wigan North Western Station for my train home. On the same platform as some travelling Aston Villa Supporters I only noticed the posts were painted in you've guessed it- green and gold!

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