FC United look safer after surprise win at Tamworth

FC United picked up a vital three points in the battle to avoid the drop with only their second away league win of the season, a hard fought 2-0 victory at fellow strugglers Tamworth.

Tom Greaves and his side knew that defeat was unthinkable but all three points would be more than welcome, and, especially during the second half, FC showed exactly the fighting spirit required.

The fact that it took well into the second half for either team to have a shot on target showed the kind of match this was with both teams looking nervous and quality was at a premium.

The home side took the early initiative as you would expect from a team playing in front of their own fans but the result of any dangerous positions was invariably a shot wide or over the bar. At the other end chances were thin on the ground, the only real sight of goal for FC was a Craig Lindfield flicked over the bar from a Luke Higham cross.

On 21 minutes, The Lambs lost the ball just outside the FC box and Jordan Fagbola broke clear. His run was three on two with options left and right with Jamal Crawford and Gerard Garner. The further he ran, the more the defence opened, giving him the option to take the ball on further and have a shot. He chose to pass the ball out to Crawford, who went off injured shortly after, and his cross was cleared the defence.

At the other end, shots fro, Akwasi Asante and Joel Kettle were blocked or fired over. There was one incident towards the end of the half, Fagbola upended a Tamworth attacker. As the referee was about to blow for the foul, Matthy Hughes attempted to clear the ball and proceeded to hit the inured Tamworth player in the head with the ball.

He immediately raised his hand to apologise, but didn’t stop the home players running in from 20 yards to remonstrate. Once order had been restored, the official Mr Tankard rightly booked Fagbola for the foul but inexplicably also cautioned Hughes for his clearance. He took no action against any home players for their reaction to the incident.

The second half started in a similar way, Tamworth having long shots blocked but as the half wore on, FC became much more confident, with Kieran Glynn, on as a first half substitute pulling the strings.

On 64 minutes, FC thought a lifeline had come when Garner got in behind the home defence and was tripped. Mr Tankard pointed to the spot only for his attention to be drawn to his assistant who had raised his flag for offside.

Hughes was lucky to remain on the pitch when he tripped an opposing attacker, the referee taking the “final chance??? route, maybe realising his error in the first half.

On 83 minutes, Hughes ran out of lives as he stupidly handled the ball and received his second yellow card of the day. It was a shame his day ended early as he had been immense in the FC defence.

Two minutes later, FC finally had some luck on their side when an innocuous shot from Lindfield bobbled towards the home keeper Jack Stevens who inexplicably spilled the ball into his own net.

The relief was palpable and this increased deep into injury when substitute Connor McCarthy did well cutting in from the right, he was challenged by Stevens but the ball ran to Garner who made no mistake to clinch the game for FC.

With other results going the way of FC, these three points should prove to be vital at the end of season shake up.

Website Man of the Match: Joel Senior - Yet again put in a performance that belied his years with a solid defensive shift as well as showing attacking prowess when required.

Report by Steven Wood