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FC United capitulate at home to Spennymoor

FC United capitulate at home to SpennymoorFC United threw away a halftime lead to lose 3-1 to Spennymoor in front of 2,069 supporters at Broadhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.

Captain Michael Potts put the Reds 1-0 up against the run of play midway through the first half. However, Tom Peers was sent off with 25 minutes to go for a two footed tackle and United promptly capitulated.

The Reds led with 15 minutes remaining and although they were under the cosh against the promotion chasing visitors they were doing their best to hold on for victory with 10 men.

However, disaster struck when goalkeeper Lloyd Allinson inexplicably dropped a hopeful cross from Alex Kempster over his own goalline and into the net to gift Spennymoor the equaliser.

It was a cruel twist for the FC United shotstopper who had seemingly bounced back from his Boxing Day blunder to perform excellently in the first half, keeping the Reds in the match.

Just two minutes later, Robert Atkinson compounded the misery by scoring a second from close range to give the visitors the lead.

United looked shellshocked for the final 20 minutes and the game was all but over when Mark Anderson curled a spectacular shot into the top left corner from 25 yards in the 94th minute.

Manager Neil Reynolds was forced into making two changes to the side that lost 4-1 at home to Chorley on Boxing Day. Winger Elliot Simoes had sustained a knock and top scorer Kurt Willoughby had a virus, so was only used as a substitute. Harry Winter was back in the starting XI to sit in front of the back four and Peers came in on the wing.

Despite quite a few hairy moments in the opening hour, the new line up seemed to work for the Reds until going down to 10 men. Peers can have no complaints as his rash two footed lunge on the edge of the box received a straight red card.

Once Spennymoor were handed the equaliser, red shirted heads went down and there was a doomed sense of inevitability that the visitors would take all three points. And so it proved.

Our club, FC United must now pick themselves back up for a New Year’s Day trip to Chorley.

Website man of the match: Chris Sharp - led the line well as a lone striker and provided the cross for United’s goal.

Report by Matthew Haley


First Posted ~ 19:08 Sat 29 Dec 2018
News ID ~ 8207
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021