FC United win charity friendly at Irlam

FC United beat Irlam FC 3-1 in a game to raise money for the victims of the gas explosion in the town three weeks ago. 

The match took place instead of the Reds’ scheduled training session and Margy started with a strong line up, sadly though the expected return from injury of both Kyle Jacobs and Lee Neville didn’t happen.

FC looked dangerous from the off, with Carlos Roca firing just wide on two occasions. There was a scare for FC on 10 minutes when Ben Deegan seemed to pull up feeling his hamstring. He was brought off immediately and will face an anxious wait to see if he will be okay for the trip to Brighton on Saturday.

Irlam took the lead just after a quarter of an hour when a cross from the left was fired in by their centre back. United came close to equalising on the half hour mark when Nicky Platt hit the crossbar with a free-kick.

Half-time brought expected wholesale changes for both sides, with FC United choosing to select mainly members of the U18 squad alongside Jimmy Holden and Martin Parker. 

Two minutes into the half, Scott Cheetham equalised when his cross from the left looped over the keeper and into the net. 

The second period was pretty much played out in the Irlam half and it was no surprise when FC took the lead with a shot from Harrison Reeve that went through the keeper. 

It was game over on 73 minutes when a superb ball into the box played in Matt Tierney who slotted the ball into the net.

All in all, it was a decent game on a bitterly cold night, but more importantly, funds were raised to help the people who lost their homes only a few weeks ago.

Report by Steven Wood