Youth game switched

As the time available for the youth team season gets shorter and the available dates for fixtures to be played become non-existent, it was with a heavy heart that your correspondent looked out of the window this morning. The St Brides pitch owned and used on a Saturday by Old Trafford FC was far from ideal and a cancellation of the game against Curzon Ashton looked likely. Enquiries were made to determine that the 3G pitch at the Tameside Stadium was available and the decision taken to play the game there.

Curzon, who were beaten 7-0 earlier in the season began the game playing with a strong wind and a determination for that result not to be repeated. They launched the first attacks and had two corners one of which led to strong claims for a penalty from their bench but refused by the referee. However it was FC United that opened the scoring with their first attack. A cross by Daniel McLaughlin was headed down to Luke Kolakowski who fired into the bottom corner.

The wind meant that goal kicks struggled to reach the half way line and Curzon were able to return many such kicks and create fresh chances although neither keeper was truly tested until the 25th minute. A Curzon long shot was dipping and looking to drop below the cross bar when Hayden Buckley Smith parried it on to the crossbar and dropped gratefully on the rebound. Cries for a goal were not heeded by either referee or linesman. Curzon did get an equaliser on the stroke of half time although in the scramble it was not possible to see who got the final touch.

The second half started with Dylan Moloney on for Luke Kolakowski and as FC tried to take advantage of the wind, it was Curzon who struck first. A move that started as a goal kick after an FC corner had gone wide flowed quickly down field and caught out the home defence. The equaliser followed two minutes later in FC’s best move of the game as Dylan Moloney ran from the half way line, threading a perfectly weighted pass for Daniel McLoughlin to run on to before rounding the keeper and slotting home.

The game then became a frenetic charge from one end of the pitch to the other in search of a winning goal in which the most potent weapon was the long throw, with Ryan Lyons providing the FC United supply line. Resulting chances either hit the post or somehow flew wide but neither goalkeeper truly had a save to make. The most fluent move broke down when Moloney appeared to be bundled over from behind as he tried to surge into the box, but like Curzon at the start of the game, the referee decided that it wasn’t a penalty; that any contact was 50/50 and waved play on.

On the balance of the play a draw was probably a fair result. It was certainly an improved performance by Curzon but FC will regret not putting up a better defence of their 100% record.

FC United of Manchester: Hayden Buckley-Smith, Davison Banda, Jake Haslam, Ryan Lyons, Jordan Dainty, Lee Worswick (Harrison Reeve 57 mins), Kane Joyce (James Green 72 mins), Luke Kolakowski (Dylan Moloney 45 mins), Daniel McLoughlin, Josh Burke, Carl Fitton. Subs not used: Aron Buckley-Smith and Kyle Cunningham

Goals: Luke Kolakowski (6 mins) and Daniel McLoughlin (56 mins).