On a clear, crisp, freezing cold morning we travelled to Manchester Lads 3G home pitch at Our
Lady's RC School for what would turn out to be a very tough league fixture. Our squad has depleted by two players leaving
us since our last match. Tom due to his
family relocating to South Africa and Taylor has joined Manchester Lads for
personal reasons and lined up against us this morning. Josh was missing through illness and an
injured Ollie started on the bench for Ladybridge.
The opening period of the
game was quite scrappy with both teams struggling on a very slippery surface
that made controlling the ball difficult. Manchester opened the scoring after 5mins when
a speculative shot by their No 9 from 30 yards out beat Conor's dive to the
right to nestle in the net to make it 1-0 to Manchester.
Dion had a great
opportunity to level the game up shortly after when Jack found him in a central
position but he just skewed his shot wide of the target. The next goal was scored from Manchester's
second corner of the game when the No 8 in space and unchallenged was able
to head the ball home to make it 2-0 Manchester on 15mins.
Callum was very unlucky
not to double his goal tally for the season when he unleashed a great effort
out wide on the left from 35 yards out that was saved really well by the
Manchester keeper. The next goal was a
cruel one to take for Ladybridge when the Manchester No 17 hit a hopeful high
punt from 40 yards out that dipped over Conor and into the back of the net. Manchester 3-0.
Ladybridge did manage to
get a goal back just before half time when the referee awarded a penalty after
Jack had been fouled in the area. Jack
stepped up to take the kick and he lifted his shot high and wide into the left
hand corner of the net to make it 3-1 at half time.
HT Manchester Lads 3-1 Ladybridge
Ladybridge started the
2nd half very well and were able to create a couple of good chances that Dion
and Ollie were just unable to convert within minutes of the restart. The Manchester No 9 also had a good effort
just go wide of the left post after 40mins. The Manchester keeper made a fantastic save
from a bullet shot from Jack after the ball fell to him on the edge of the box.
It would be our former player Taylor
that would open his account for Manchester mid way through the 2nd period when,
after a slick passing move found him lurking 5 yards out, he made no mistake to
slot past Conor to make it 4-1 to the home team. Bayley was fouled 35 yards out on the right
after 20mins and Jack stepped up to fire a shot goal-bound that their keeper
did well to keep hold of. Taylor doubled
his tally with ten minutes remaining when their No 17 found him with a lovely
ball into his feet and he again made no mistake from close range to make it 5-1
to Manchester.
Ladybridge did manage to
pull a goal back with 5mins remaining when Bayley found Dion well down the
right and he crossed the ball into Jack who fired an unstoppable drive past the
keeper to bring an end to the scoring in the game to make the full time score
5-2 to Manchester Lads.
Manchester Lads will have
enjoyed this comprehensive win this morning after losing two tight games
earlier this season by the odd goal. A yard sharper to the ball
particularly in the first half, their performance throughout the 70mins meant
they deserved to take the points. Well
done to the Manchester Lads on a good solid performance.
A difficult morning for
Ladybridge, in a game that marks a new start for the team both on and off the
pitch. Manchester started the game much better than we did and were a yard
quicker to the ball certainly in the first half. I felt we played much better in the 2nd period
but we left ourselves with far too much to do to get anything out of the
game.
Hopefully the lads can
re-group and focus on bouncing back with a win away next Sunday morning in a
league fixture at Curzon Ashton.
Gordon
