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Game of two halves as FC United lose to FC Winterthur in Switzerland

Game of two halves as FC United lose to FC Winterthur in SwitzerlandFC United departed Switzerland after a 4-2 defeat against hosts FC Winterthur in a classic “game of two halves??? on Saturday evening at the Stadion Schützenwiese in front of a crowd estimated at just over 2,100.

The home club had again promoted the re-match as “The True Spirit of Football???. Players from both sides lived up to this billing with a game played in a sporting manner and with spectators from both sides renewing old friendships and making new ones.

Attacking the sun-drenched Bierkurve end, second-tier FC Winterthur, playing in all-red, started off looking by far the livelier side, and it was little surprise when they took the lead on five minutes.

Leandro Di Gregorio sent over a teasing cross from the left wing and the unmarked Lukas Sliskovic was perfectly placed to steer the ball home.

Worse was to follow. On 11 minutes, Tom Eckersley was forced to clear a Luca Radice effort off the line, but the inevitable couldn’t be denied, and two minutes later FC Winterthur went 2-0 up. Sliskovic beat the offside trap before rounding goalkeeper Dylan Forth and netting easily.

On 25 minutes, the home side added a third when Romain Dessarzin cut in from the right hand side and rifled a fizzing low shot across the face of the goal and in at the far post.

On 30 minutes, the game seemed all over as a contest when Leandro Di Gregorio lofted over another pinpoint centre from the left and Robin Kamber was on hand to smash home goal number four from just over 12 yards out.

And it might even have been five shortly before half-time when the home side somehow contrived to hit the foot of the post when it had looked easier to score.

Immediately after the half-time interval, FC United made a number of changes, with Luke Ashworth and Dale Johnson coming on for Zac Corbett and George Thomson respectively and the team line-up switching from 4-4-1-1 to 5-3-2 formation.

With FC Winterthur starting to take their foot off the gas, FC United found it a little easier to make progress. On 57 minutes, Tom Greaves latched onto a Harry Winter through-ball, before rounding Matthias Minder and rolling the ball home.

Three minutes later, Greaves added his second when he linked up in a one-two with Johnson before blasting the ball past the home side’s substitute ‘keeper.

Although there was to be no more scoring in the final 30 minutes, both teams can take positives from the game. FC Winterthur recorded a useful win in their final pre-season game and can now look forward to their opening Swiss Challenge League fixture at local rivals FC Zürich next Sunday. Meanwhile, Karl Marginson’s men can take heart from a much-improved second-half performance (and a slightly better final result than the 1-4 reverse in May 2014) as they await the visit of Hereford at Broadhurst Park this coming Saturday.

Report by Peter Moulds


First Posted ~ 16:22 Tue 19 Jul 2016
News ID ~ 6929
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021