Late Wolfenden strike sees FC United win at Curzon Ashton - Full report & video

FC United came from 1-0 down with 20 minutes to go to win 2-1 at Curzon Ashton on Monday night with goals from Nathan Lowe and Matthew Wolfenden.

The Reds were trailing after 19 minutes due to a Matt Warburton goal but Lowe bagged the equaliser in the 70th minute before Wolfenden smashed home a close range winner with two minutes to go.

Highlights here:


Wolfy’s winner from behind the goal:

Goooaaaaalllll pic.twitter.com/0zJTXprOsU

— FC United Manchester (@FCUnitedMcr) March 27, 2017

The victory puts FC United back up to 13th place with 46 points, all but sealing the club’s place in the Vanarama National League North for the third consecutive season. The result also maintains the Reds’ unbeaten record against our near neighbours after 12 fixtures over the last 11 years.

The first half was a largely forgettable and drab affair with the only real moment being the goal scored by the home side, which FC United brought upon themselves.

A short back pass from Scott Kay played Luke Ashworth into trouble. But Ashworth did manage to play the ball back to Adriano Basso, who despite joining Hartlepool two weeks ago was back in goal for the injured David Carnell. The veteran Brazilian tried to dribble the ball out of his area only to gift it to Matt Warburton who walked the ball into the empty FC net.

The only bright spot of the first 45 minutes for the Reds was a run down the left by skipper Jerome Wright who saw his effort fly just wide.

Curzon had the first chance of the second half when Ryan Hall saw his powerful shot sail over the FC bar. From this point FC started to put in a performance far more in keeping with what the fans expect to see from their team, with good passing moves and positive runs at the opposition defence.

Nathan Lowe saw a shot deflected just over and Wright was again unlucky to see another powerful shot go over the bar. On 58 minutes, Tomi Adeloye, making his first FC start, stung the fingers of goalkeeper Hakan Burton who tipped a shot wide.

At the other end Warburton saw Basso pull off a flying save to deny a second goal.

With 20 minutes to go, FC United deservedly pulled level when a ball into the box was headed down by Matthew Wolfenden towards Adeloye. He rolled it to Lowe who curled a beautiful shot into the bottom corner of Burton’s goal.

Adeloye saw another shot saved by Burton as FC turned up the pressure and on 88 mins the pressure was rewarded with a winning goal. The ball found its way out to the right wing where Ashworth put in a superb cross which was headed down by substitute Jason Gilchrist to Wolfenden who fired the ball into the net to pick up three vital points for the Reds.

Man of the Match - Tomi Adeloye. A busy, powerful performance from Adeloye on his first start for FC United and his all action performance wins the award from the also impressive Wright and Jordan Fagbola.

Report by Steven Wood