Youth march on at Northwich

The thoughts of the FC Youth Team turned to cup action this week with a first round tie at Northwich Victoria for the Premier Division competition, The Neil Thomason Cup and the Reds came away 3-0 winners.

There was another bright start as FC United scored in the second minute. A shot from full back Alex Stones, venturing forward from the start was blocked by the Northwich Keeper Thomas Wilson, unfortunately for him Matthew Boland was on hand to slot home the rebound.

There were further chances as FC looked to press home their advantage; Theo Kidd had a couple of near misses including one in the eighth minute when a strong drive hit the post.

Theo doubled the lead in the 21st minute when Matthew Boland and Sam Howell combined to give him a shooting opportunity. The home defence did look to have closed down the chance as the shot was blocked, but the deflection merely wrong footed the keeper, who despite getting a hand to the ball could not keep it out.

The game was never likely to see the free scoring antics against Nantwich as the home side were determined not to see a repeat of the 5-1 reverse they suffered earlier in the season.

The crisp accurate passing that manager Chuks has come to expect was not at its usual high standard and a man of the match performance by Wilson dealt with everything that was on target. Especially as half-time approached, a Thomas Minnock shot was deflected for a corner; Wilson punched the cross clear but found himself having to make a fine diving save to clear a second Minnock shot.

The interval saw changes as Kial Callacher and Matthew Hassall came on for Alex Stones and Maximilian Thomas to try and get back to the basics. That there was only one more goal for the Reds efforts was down to the fact that Wilson was able to make at least ten good saves. These were often double blocks as a follow up effort failed to take advantage of a rebound.

The third goal came from a corner after a Matthew Boland effort was turned aside. Thomas Minnock drove the ball low across a crowded six yard box and somehow no Northwich player was able to clear the ball and as it reached the far post it was turned in. Matthew Hassall emerged from the crowd to claim the credit.

In the remainder of the game FC created chances but were unable to find a way past Wilson. Northwich tried to find a consolation goal, their best effort saw a fine save by Andrew Farrimond from Dylan Norris. Unfortunately, some of their more promising moves were frustrated by offside decisions as forwards too keen to try and get behind the FC defence.

FC United of Manchester: Andrew Farrimond, Alex Stones (Kial Callacher 45 mins), Obrian Richards, Kyle Cunningham, James Brooks, Asima Matabaro, Maximilian Thomas (Matthew Hassall 45 mins), Thomas Minnock, Theo Kidd (Jonathan Poizer 76 mins), Matthew Boland, Sam Howell. Subs not used: Jonathan Beisty and Connor Naughton.

Goals: Matthew Boland, Theo Kidd, Matthew Hassall.