Match Report

FC United were humbled 5-1 at Telford United on Tuesday night as Sam Madeley was sent off moments before halftime after going in goal to replace the injured Dave Carnell.

Carnell was injured after 25 minutes with the scores at 0-0 and with no substitute goalkeeper on the bench, Madeley filled in. The FC United winger did pretty well for almost 20 minutes and was unfortunate to concede an own goal.

However, he was sent off two minutes before the break after conceding a penalty and Luke Ashworth was left to become the Reds’ third keeper of the night. His first duty was picking the ball out of the back of the net as the Bucks took a 2-0 lead from the spot.

Into the second half and the floodgates opened with the Shropshire hosts adding three more. The only moment of cheer for the travelling FC United supporters was George Thomson adding a consolation goal 10 minutes from time.

The first chance of the game fell to FC United when Thomson was played in but he fired across the goal and wide. At the other end, Curtis Tilt headed just wide for The Bucks.

Chris Chantler was next to go close, like Thomson he was played in but fired his shot just wide of the far post.

On 22 minutes the home side should have taken the lead when Connor McCarthy crossed for Jordan Wynter who skied his finish from point blank range.

A minute later the game changed as Carnell went down with a groin strain and was unable to carry on. He was replaced in goal by Madeley.

Madeley looked up to the task as he produced a fine save from Dave Hibbert but he was finally beaten on 40 mins when a long shot from John Cofie was put into the goal by Chantler who in fairness was looking to protect his keeper.

Three minutes later a tough job was made even harder when Madeley made a good save tipping the ball onto the post. The rebound fell to a Telford attacker who couldn’t get his shot away with Madeley at his feet. The official believed the FC keeper had held the striker’s foot whilst shooting and not only awarded a spot-kick but gave the stand-in custodian a red card for the professional foul.

Ashworth took over and had to pick the penalty out of the net as Lucas Dawson made no mistake to increase the lead to 2-0 at the break.

The second half started poorly for FC United as Hibbert fired home from the edge of the box on 48 minutes to increase the lead to three.

Telford certainly had the upper hand and stretched the lead to four on 79 minutes when Dwayne Samuels blasted home from the right hand side of the box.

To their credit FC United did rally and Thomson finished well from inside the box to pull a goal back but it was all in vain as substitute Sean Clancy fired past Ashworth to make the scoreline 5-1.

Website man of the match - On a difficult night for FC, Chris Chantler never gave up till the end and picks up the award.

Report by Steven Wood