AFC Liverpool v City of Liverpool, 4th November 2017

After battling the traffic and struggling to find a car parking space in the industrial estate next to Bootle FC, I got into the ground with about 5 minutes on the clock.

I found the Rimmers sat in one of the small stands in the end opposite the Dodge Kop.  Phil told me that CoL had missed a couple of decent chances. Phil had been to a midweek meeting concerning fans and management engagement involving Manager Chris Stammers, and felt that it had gone ok. 

More chances soon came to the home side, including one effort which saw Jack Cookson save with his feet at the near post. Greg Armstrong came into the ground a few minutes later walking past us. I had earlier seen Greg struggle to park as I was parking up.

I moved to around the dugouts where the rest of our people were congregated. This was with about half an hour on the clock. Although we had been largely on the back foot, we were putting in a battling performance.

Yet another chance was missed by City of Liverpool, as a clear header on goal went wide. It would have been so much easier to have hit the target.

For all the chances CoL missed, our keeper Jack Cookson had only one save to make all half. Into the closing stages, we could have gone into the lead against the run of play as a through ball towards Oscar Billington triggered a goalmouth scramble, and City's Keeper eventually managed to smother.

After the restart the chances continued for the home side. Plus, the signs were becoming more worrying, as Jack Cookson was suddenly now being called upon to make saves.

Conor Smith had been one of our influential players in the middle of the park. When he was substituted early in the second half, management and supporters alike were worried.

Having been on a run of eleven straight defeats, which saw us exit two cup competitions, a local derby was just the game you would expect every lad in the red shirt to be up for. If they weren't, then you would be very worried.

Our battling performance got its rewards in the 71st minute as Danny Boden ran onto a ball from deep. He got to the byline and played a good ball in for substitute Callum Ruttledge to score on his debut. We were 1-0 up, and just maybe could we do the unexpected?

Predictably, we had to withstand new waves of City of Liverpool pressure. Jack Cookson was called upon to make a couple more saves. With five minutes to go, the defence had momentarily switched off after a good move down their left, and their skipper Camozzi was quickest to react and they were level.

With the run we had been on, you would have feared we would drop, and the Purps would take all three points. Thankfully the lads found the strength again to battle, and every wave of Purple attack found the lads willing to throw their bodies in the way to block anything.

We held on, and we hoped our season could now turn. Unfortunately, it didn’t as this unexpected point did not produce a turnaround in results we so badly needed. Manager Chris Stammers resigned just before Christmas, and the Joint Management Team of Ben Williams and Stuart Keir who succeeded Stammers could not stave off relegation to the North West Counties League First Division North.

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