Lancaster Axed

On a warm Spring afternoon the FC United Youth team trekked up the M6 to Giant Axe to take on Lancaster City in the search for league points. Having beaten them 10-0 at St Bride’s early in the season the mood was optimistic.

FC started brightly and had mounted several attacks before the first goal which arrived after seven minutes, a defence splitting ball from Ashley Reece left Jamie Mack clear to do what he does best and coolly slot past Keiron Morgan in the Lancaster goal. A second followed with almost indecent haste when in the next attack a penalty was awarded for a push and up stepped Jamie.

The relentless pace of the FC attack continued but it took another ten minutes for the third goal to arrive as FC Colt Jake Haslam fed Jamie to complete his hat-trick. His fourth followed soon afterwards with a rare header from Jakes cross. By now everyone was desperate to get on the score sheet and in a neat exchange of passes Jack Lyons obliged to make it 5-0. Left back Barry Davies got in on the act to make it 6-0 before Jamie completed the first half scoring with his fifth just before half time.

An injury picked up midway through the half meant that the star of the show had to sit out the second half along with Josh Burke who made way for Kyle McDonagh and Lawrence Zisaruk-Gibson, with a change of formation which gave defender Andy Lee a chance to show his striking prowess, or more to the point why he has a great future in the centre of defence. His instincts got him onto probably half a dozen good chances but the keeper managed to repel them all.

Not surprisingly the second half pace did drop although there were still plenty of chances but only two more goals as Lee Worswick smashed back a clearance to make it 8-0 and Barry Davies burst through the defence and lobbed the keeper for 9-0.

The moment of the match however came when, with almost balletic footwork Ryan Lyons stepped away from a Lancaster defender coming in to make a challenge. Unfortunately there was another Lancaster player at his back who was not so nimble. The collision was easily audible in the dug-out on the other side of the pitch and could possibly been heard the other side of the River Lune. Confirmation could not be sought as the Morecambe branch were present at the game.

Lancaster City

1. Kieron Morgan
2. Daniel Jackson
3. Billy Duckworth
4. Tom Loxam
5. Luke Atkinson
6. Joshua Butler
7. Matthew Hartley
8. John Booth
9. Liam Reaton
10. Sam Clarkson
11. Liam Oldrieve


FC United of Manchester

1. Robert Froggatt
2. Ashley Reece
3. Barry Davies
4. Josh Burke
5. Nick Swirad
6. Andy Lee
7. Mark Reeves
8. Lee Worswick
9. Jack Lyons
10. Jamie Mack
11. Jake Haslam

Substitutes

12. Kyle McDonagh (for 10)
14. Lawrence Zisaruk-Gibson (for 4)
15. Toby Iloba (not used)
16. John Buckley (not used)
17. Ryan Lyons (for 2)

Scorers
Mack 5, Davies 2, Lyons J, and Worswick