FC Youth draw against Woodley Sports
In the shadow of the Centenary celebrations at Old Trafford, FC United youth met at St Bride’s Field to take on Woodley Sports in a North West Youth Alliance League match.
The important game of the day finished in a 1-1 draw, with FC taking a first half lead only to see a late equaliser conceded and produce the third draw in open play between the clubs this season.
Supporters familiar with St Bride’s will be aware that no matter how spring-like the conditions, there will be a cold wind that blows in from Stretford Road and along the pitch. FC United chose to play with that wind in the first half and used it to push Woodley back and dominate play. Corner after corner was fired in with the wind to test the Woodley defence.
In the third minute Roshgar Mousa tested Joe Mallalieu in the Woodley goal and although his clearance was worked downfield for Ryan Eiselt to come close with a shot over the bar, that was the only real threat of the half from the visitors. Roshgar headed on to the bar from a Stephanos Ioannou cross shortly afterward.
Carl Fitton produced an excellent display as an attacking fullback on the left, accelerating past the Woodley defence at will. Only wayward finishing stopped FC from taking a commanding lead into the interval. Josh Burke saw a shot well saved in the 35th minute whilst Stephanos and Nyle Walker were equally unfortunate at half time. The goal they did score was fired in by Stephanos from the edge of the box in the 30th minute and was possibly not his cleanest strike of the day.
The second half started in much the same way, with Nyle Walker having a shot saved in the opening minutes. Slowly however, Woodley started to find a way into the game as a feint touch by Joe Grantham turned a goal bound shot onto the crossbar shortly afterwards. The bar was soon rattled at the other end as a free kick was headed down by Dylan Moloney for Roshgar to turn and shoot.
FC United continued to extend their advantage without success and Woodley had keeper Mallelieu to thank for preventing that, until the 75th minute. The equaliser came when a Woodley player saw his shot cannon back off the post and fired home the rebound. The linesman closest to the action had instantly flagged when the ball hit the net, giving all concerned reason to believe that there was an offside call to rule out the goal. It was however merely a call for clarification with the referee and the goal was given.
Both sides spent the remaining minutes chasing a winner; Woodley brought some fine saves from Grantham, who despite finishing the game hampered by a groin strain kept them at bay. Efforts from FC, whilst testing the keeper looked less likely to produce a winner. The final whistle blew after around seven minutes injury time, mostly for treatment to Grantham, with honours even and perhaps deservedly so.
FC United of Manchester
Joe Grantham, Davison Banda, Carl Fitton, Jordan Dainty, Ferre Edwards, Dylan Moloney, Josh Burke, Luke Kolakowski (Ibukun Modupe-Ojo 84 mins), Roshgar Mousa (Ryan Lyons 90mins), Stephanos Ioannou (Cautioned 90 mins), Nyle Walker. Subs not used Alex Clarke, Andy Graham, Paul McIntyre
Goal - Stephhanos Ioannou
The important game of the day finished in a 1-1 draw, with FC taking a first half lead only to see a late equaliser conceded and produce the third draw in open play between the clubs this season.
Supporters familiar with St Bride’s will be aware that no matter how spring-like the conditions, there will be a cold wind that blows in from Stretford Road and along the pitch. FC United chose to play with that wind in the first half and used it to push Woodley back and dominate play. Corner after corner was fired in with the wind to test the Woodley defence.
In the third minute Roshgar Mousa tested Joe Mallalieu in the Woodley goal and although his clearance was worked downfield for Ryan Eiselt to come close with a shot over the bar, that was the only real threat of the half from the visitors. Roshgar headed on to the bar from a Stephanos Ioannou cross shortly afterward.
Carl Fitton produced an excellent display as an attacking fullback on the left, accelerating past the Woodley defence at will. Only wayward finishing stopped FC from taking a commanding lead into the interval. Josh Burke saw a shot well saved in the 35th minute whilst Stephanos and Nyle Walker were equally unfortunate at half time. The goal they did score was fired in by Stephanos from the edge of the box in the 30th minute and was possibly not his cleanest strike of the day.
The second half started in much the same way, with Nyle Walker having a shot saved in the opening minutes. Slowly however, Woodley started to find a way into the game as a feint touch by Joe Grantham turned a goal bound shot onto the crossbar shortly afterwards. The bar was soon rattled at the other end as a free kick was headed down by Dylan Moloney for Roshgar to turn and shoot.
FC United continued to extend their advantage without success and Woodley had keeper Mallelieu to thank for preventing that, until the 75th minute. The equaliser came when a Woodley player saw his shot cannon back off the post and fired home the rebound. The linesman closest to the action had instantly flagged when the ball hit the net, giving all concerned reason to believe that there was an offside call to rule out the goal. It was however merely a call for clarification with the referee and the goal was given.
Both sides spent the remaining minutes chasing a winner; Woodley brought some fine saves from Grantham, who despite finishing the game hampered by a groin strain kept them at bay. Efforts from FC, whilst testing the keeper looked less likely to produce a winner. The final whistle blew after around seven minutes injury time, mostly for treatment to Grantham, with honours even and perhaps deservedly so.
FC United of Manchester
Joe Grantham, Davison Banda, Carl Fitton, Jordan Dainty, Ferre Edwards, Dylan Moloney, Josh Burke, Luke Kolakowski (Ibukun Modupe-Ojo 84 mins), Roshgar Mousa (Ryan Lyons 90mins), Stephanos Ioannou (Cautioned 90 mins), Nyle Walker. Subs not used Alex Clarke, Andy Graham, Paul McIntyre
Goal - Stephhanos Ioannou
First Posted ~ 18:11 Mon 15 Mar 2010
News ID ~ 2768
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021