We were playing on the Sunday because Marine hosted the lovely purple brigade on Saturday. It was a 2pm kick off because Liverpool were playing at Old Trafford at 4.30pm. Myself and Peter Garrity had been under the impression that goalkeeper Jack McGovern would be cuptied. But after seeing Ando and the management team in Dace before the match, apparently not. In my capacity as Programme Editor I had accidentally put him on the teamsheet in the programme. Phew! It was a bigger relief that he was playing considering the likely alternative. I am sorry to say. As it was, Jack's status was precarious. We had an arrangement with Bootle that we could take their 2nd choice keeper on loan. But, that meant the nightmare potential scenario where Bootle's first choice keeper (and ex-Reds keeper) Ryan Jones gets injured, and we don't have either!
I was still on the turnstile when the visitors took the lead. The Northern League had an excellent pedigree in the FA Vase. Over the previous decade, there had only been two finals where a team from that league had not been present. Newton Aycliffe had been second in the Northern League prior to that weekend. Before I left Dace, Alan Harrison mentioned to me that the Northern League had a few teams knocked out on the Saturday. When I arrived at the Crossender Road end, Peter was of the view that Newton Aycliffe had seemed to be a level or two up from the opponents we were accustomed to play.
Yet, the rest of the first half was largely one way traffic. Newton Aycliffe had a goalkeeper called Pickford in goal. Was he any relation to Jordan? Anyway, he made some good saves in the first half. Our best chance to restore parrrity saw Ollie Sanderson played through, but he shot into the side netting. Callum Schorah had a shot that produced a brilliant save. From the resulting corner, Adam Pickford had to show his reflexes to keep out a header.When we did equalise, Ollie Sanderson cut into the box from the left hand side. The ball found its way to Kyle Schorah, who shot on the turn and floated into the net around Pickford.
Into the second half and Alan Harrison was doing his bit in raising the atmosphere. He was doing a fine job positioning the mic by my rattles! Within a couple of minutes of the restart Kyle Schorah scored again. He trapped the ball, danced past a couple of defenders and fired it home at the near post. Wow! That was a moment.
For the next 15 minutes or so, we were very much on top. Not really creating that much, although I do recall one Adam Pickford tip over. He was defo the Newton Aycliffe man of the match. I remarked to Alan Harrison that we really needed to score a third whilst we were on top. When Paul Speed got a second yellow for kicking the ball away on 72 minutes, I feared the failure to score a third could come back to bite us. The visitors had created a few second half opportunities. On the 84th minute a free header thankfully drifted wide.
That was a massive result for AFC Liverpool and a place in the second round proper of the FA Vase for just the second time in our history. With Liverpool about to kick off at Old Trafford, I was wondering if the big Reds could provide something from the day that would be just as memorable. United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was under pressure despite United's midweek Champions League comeback against Atalanta. Liverpool won 5-0!
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