Match Report

FC United sealed an impressive 4-0 victory away to Ossett Town on Tuesday night with two goals each for Carlos Roca and Kyle Wilson.

Much of the pre-match talk had been about FC United’s run of five games without a win but the manner of the victory goes a long way to show that the Reds are a much better team than the current league position suggests.

Things got underway and the visitors welcomed back Chris Baguley into the centre midfield and it wasn’t long before United were creating chances.

A touch of good fortune gave the Reds the lead as Roca gained possession on the edge of the box and hit a rather tame effort goalwards. The ball took a deflection off a defender which changed the direction of the ball and all that Ossett ‘keeper Lee Cockerham could do was watch the ball trickle into his bottom corner.

Some people may describe the strike on the 10 minute mark as an own-goal but Roca will be keen to claim it as his long awaited first for the club since signing during pre-season from Altrincham.

With United 1-0 they continued to press forward with a their trademark wing play giving the home team problems. The Ossett defence seemed to struggle with the pace of Roca, Jerome Wright and Adam Carden as well as the sheer brute force of Kyle Wilson.

It was the league’s top scorer who doubled the lead just after half an hour. United had been under a spell of pressure as Ossett tried to get back into the game but when they broke from the corner Simon Garner’s through ball split the opposition defence in two and left Wilson one-on-one with Cockerham. Wilson made no mistake - coolly slotting home for his 10th of the season.

United could have been three up before the interval but Roca saw his effort ruled out for offside after Adam Carden put the ball across the box from the right.

The second half carried on much in the same vein as the first with both teams enjoying good possession but only United looking like they could score.

FC United again enjoyed good openings down the wings and came close when an Adam Carden challenge surprisingly headed for the goal but he was denied by a good re-actionable stop.

The third goal wasn’t long in coming though. When a innocuous ball over the top released Roca, the forward took his chance with a superbly taken right footed strike into the top corner to give Untied a three goal cushion.

Just minutes later the Reds were awarded a penalty after Wilson picked the ball up around half way and charged at the home defence like a bull, after beating a few defenders he was stopped in the box but at the cost of a penalty.

Roca sensed his hat-trick but his pleas for the spot kick fell on deaf ears as Wilson picked the ball up, placed it on the spot and fired home to give United a real confidence boosting victory.

Rob Nugent continued to gain match fitness by getting 10 minutes at the end, coming on for captain David Chadwick and it looks like it won’t be long before the duo are reunited in the centre of defence.

FC United showed real moments of class on the evening and the play coming forward was one area in particular that would have pleased Karl Marginson and the United faithful.

The game also represented the third clean sheet in four games for the United defence since the signings of full backs Simon Garner and Danny Warrender, and a strong defensive unit is always a good basis to build upon.

The only sour note for United is that they must now wait almost two weeks until the next fixture at home to Witton Albion. Due to this they will have hope that they can keep the momentum from this performance going until a week on Saturday.

Report by Craig Phillips.