Squires Gate v AFC Liverpool, 30th July 2022

On a hot September Evening the previous season we lost 4-1 at Gate. The main highlight then was Dave The Rattler getting his car stuck on the curb in the car park, and needing assistance from the rest of the AFC congregation in releasing his car. Eventually Dave was able to drive his car forward before driving off a smaller curb by a footpath adjacent to the turnstile. 

Nearly eleven months later it was the opening day of the new season and our first visit back to Gate's Brian Addison Stadium. Off the pitch the gaffer "Ando" had just departed to be Assistant Manager at Chorley. Matt Potter was in interim charge. I arrived about 2 or 3 minutes late and we were already a goal down. Apparently it was a right cock up at the back!
My hope was that it would not get any worse. When my thoughts went back to the previous season's fixture, we had ironically been the better side in the early stages, forcing their keeper into making a few saves. Over the whole match that night, the 4-1 reverse was probably not a fair reflection. It was more a case that they took their chances and we didn't.The early Squires Gate lead in this opening day fixture only lasted 9 minutes. Following some trickery from Billy "Whiz" McCarthy down the left, his cross eventually found new signing Tom Douglas who rifled the ball past the Gate keeper. Soon the AFC congregation had another late comer as George Marsh joined us all behind the goal.I can't remember if it was before George joined us or not.  But there was a stage in the early stages where I saw something very quirky, when some of the Gate volunteers were trying to lift a lost ball from a neighbouring back garden with a fish net!A good run from another new signing Dale Corie-Butler set up Billy Whiz on the left as we entered the last five minutes of the first half. Billy kept his cool and aimed for goal. The keeper was probably poised to save it. But thankfully a wicked deflection took the ball away from him and we were in the lead at the break.Early in the second half we came close to extending our lead as a combination of goalkeeper and defender managed to keep our lead to one goal. Gate then had a little spell of pressure where Jackie McGovern made a couple of saves and we had to defend a corner or two.Another new boy Ben Cartwright made his mark rising to head home from a free kick on 62 minutes. We were pretty comfortable from then. Kyle Schorah had a go from distance, only to see his shot go over. When the fourth did come, Kyle did have a hand in it, playing in substitute (and another new boy) Richard Wincer who slotted past the keeper. That made it 4-1, which is how it ended, to give the final scoreline a reversal from the previous season.

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