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United sink Marine

Two goals from Mike Norton were enough to sink Marine as FC United got their Evo-Stik Premier Division campaign off to a great start on Merseyside on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds were ahead inside 15 minutes when Norton converted from the penalty spot after Ben Deegan had been brought down in the box. And Norton sealed victory minutes after the restart before two Marine players saw red to leave the hosts with little hope of getting back into the match.

FC United started the game brightly and with less than five minutes on the clock, Jerome Wright forced a good save from Marine keeper, Ryan McMahon. The ball was played forward to Norton who picked out Wright on the overlap and the winger was able to unleash a shot on goal from the left side of the area with McMahon doing well to tip the ball over the cross bar.

The Reds continued to go forward in the early stages and it could be sensed that a goal wouldn’t be too long in arriving as United had opportunities on the attack. An interchange between the United strike partnership resulted in the referee awarding FC a penalty. Deegan made a run into the box and picked up a through ball from Norton before being brought down as he looked to go for goal.

Norton stepped up for his and United’s first goal of the season, striking the spot-kick confidently into the back of the net.

Despite continual strong forward play from the Reds, it was the home side who had the next real chance, testing Sam Ashton for the first time in the game. Jamie Rainford received a ball from the left in a good position inside the United area and his effort from close range looked to be heading beyond Ashton, however the FC keeper produced a great tip over.

As the half progressed United continued to play fluently and a good interchange between Norton and Wright set Wright up to strike, forcing McMahon to come off his line to close down the effort of the FC number 10.

Less than 10 minutes after play had resumed for the second half, Norton doubled the lead. Wright sent the ball across the box from the left and a deft header by Deegan into the path of Norton set the former Curzon Ashton forward up for a fantastic strike on the half volley into the bottom corner.

Just beyond the hour mark, Marine’s chances of getting back into the game were dealt a blow when they were reduced to 10 men. Thomas Moore was shown a straight red for clattering into Ashton after the FC keeper had claimed the ball.

Minutes later, as FC began to build down the right hand side, Kyle Jacobs was brought down by Kevin Leadbetter and as the game became more bad-tempered the home side had to deal with losing a second player when the striker was shown a red card for his troubles.

As the hosts worked hard to compensate, United had good spells of passing play, looking to build in the Marine half and having plenty of options going forward. Jake Cottrell put McMahon to the test as the midfielder struck from 20 yards, being denied by a flying save from the Marine keeper. McMahon was then immediately called into action once more, stopping substitute Carlos Roca’s low shot on goal.

As the game entered the final minutes, United were on the constant search for a third goal to wrap the game up, however Marine weren’t prepared to sit back and looked to threaten the United back line on the break.

The score-line however remained the same as the Reds continued to go forward but were unable to profit from the advantage of having two extra men for the latter part of the game.

All concerned will surely to happy to have come away from the opening game of the season with a deserved win and a strong, promising performance, after having been the better side for the majority of the encounter.

Report by Vic Fullen

Attendance: 933

Team information:
FC United:
1. Sam Ashton ©
2. Kyle Jacobs
3. Lee Neville
4. Richard Battersby
5. Martin Parker
6. Scott McManus
7. Chris Ovington
8. Jake Cottrell
9. Mike Norton (15, 54)
10. Jerome Wright
11. Ben Deegan
Subs:
12. James Holden (for 11, 80)
14. Mark Ayres
15. Simon Carden (for 4, 80)
16. Carlos Roca (for 7, 66)
17. David Chadwick


Marine:
1. Ryan McMahon
2. Lee Parle ©
3. Chris Butler
4. John Shaw
5. Tony Davies
6. Steven Hussey
7. Sean Doherty
8. Jonathon Goulding
9. Thomas Moore
10. Jamie Rainford
11. Kevin Leadbetter
Subs:
12. John Cass (for 7, 58)
14. Stephen Johnson
15. Liam Rushton
16. Shaun Callacher (for 5, 73)
17. Peter Cumiskey


First Posted ~ 23:12 Sun 22 Aug 2010
News ID ~ 3039
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021