Youth pot the Shrimps

Morecambe were the visitors to St Brides on the day the clocks went forward and everyone had to remember to be an hour early. The visitors put up a much more impressive display than was the case for the reverse fixture earlier in the season and were unfortunate to be sent back up the M6 with nothing to show for it.

Much of the game involved the battle for supremacy in midfield and whilst the home side scored with their first real chance; Jay Walcott shooting into the far corner after receiving a superb pass from Obied Elghreaw within a move that swept from one end of the pitch to the other. Morecambe matched FC for effort and saw most of the attacking play in the first half hour and Hayden Buckley-Smith the busier keeper.

The equaliser came in the 29th minute when a free kick cleared the back four and forced a save. Unfortunately a Morecambe player was first to react and lifted the ball into the roof of the net. This prompted the home side into life although there were no more realistic scoring chances for either side before half time.

Ryan Westwood came on for Scott Cheetham at the start of the second half as FC tried to pick up the pace and had two half chances in the first five minutes with Obied and Harrison Reeve going close, however most of the football though continued to be played in midfield. As in the first half there were few clear chances, Morecambe looked more likely to score as the game passed the hour mark but neither keeper was really tested.

That remained the case up until the last fifteen minutes when the reds re-took the lead with the move of the match. Dylan Moloney, finding himself out on the right wing battled hard to get past the Morecambe full back before crossing for Jay Walcott to sweep the ball into the net.

Morecambe pressed for an equaliser and had a spell of pressure which saw them have two successive corners but the home rearguard action held firm. Indeed the margin of victory could have been even greater as Dylan found himself behind the Morecambe defence from a free kick but with the keeper coming to meet him a first time shot squirmed wide.

FC just about deserved the win but couldn’t have complained if they had been winkled out of it.

FC United of Manchester: Hayden Buckley Smith, Ryan Lyons, Jake Haslam (Davison Banda 65 mins), Obiued Elghreaw, Jordan Dainty, Harrison Reeve, Kane Joyce (Jordan Evans 50mins), Josh Burke, Dylan Moloney, Scott Cheetham (Ryan Westwood 45 mins), Jay Walcott. Subs not used Andrew Farrimond and Luke Kolakowski.

Goals: Jay Walcott (6 & 77 mins)

Cautions: Dainty, Reeve, Evans, Moloney and Walcott.