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United rescue draw at Curzon

FC United came from two goals down at half-time to draw 2-2 at Curzon Ashton on Wednesday night with a penalty from Kyle Wilson and a header from debutant Rhys Hardie.

The Nash had cruised into the lead in the first 45 minutes through the familiar and reunited partnership of Mike Norton and Steven Moore. Following a slow start Norton tucked away a penalty on 17 minutes after a Curzon attack was brought to an abrupt end inside the box by centre-half Micah Bleau.

The Reds looked somewhat out of sorts with no real fluidity to their game. Other than a few half chances here and there they rarely troubled the hosts’ keeper David Carnell.

Even with that said though, it was a disappointment to concede a second goal right on the stroke of half time. Moore latched onto a lapse in concentration from Bleau, who tried to play the ball square across his own penalty area.

A striker of Moore’s quality seems to just need a sniff of the ball to cause havoc for the opposition and with the Reds teeing up a free chance on goal for him there was only ever going to be one outcome. United’s captain for the night, Sam Ashton was helpless to stop the Nash from doubling their lead.

At two-nil down in a pre-season friendly some teams may have resigned themselves to defeat but FC United have a lot of new players who are desperate to prove themselves.

And so no more than 60 seconds after the restart, Wilson picked up the ball and went on a surging run into the box. The former Crew Alexandra forward rounded Carnell but was upended before he could put the ball into the back of the net.

Unperturbed, Wilson picked himself up and placed his penalty past the keeper to deservedly open his goal-scoring account with FC United.

The Reds were back in the game and it may have been interesting to see whether the starting 11 could pull themselves level but by the 57 minute manager Karl Marginson had decided he wanted to give a run out to other members of his squad.

On came Nick Robinson, Rob Howarth, Simon Carden and Hardie to replace Wilson, Dale Whitehead, Dave Neville and Chris Baguley.

It proved to be a great tactical switch because it took Hardie no more than two minutes to get the equaliser. Carlos Roca put in some great work down the left wing, beating two defenders with his trickery before unleashing a teasing cross to the far post. Hardy met it with a bullet of a header, only his second touch of the game, and United were level.

There weren’t too many more chances after that as both teams seemed content to try to keep it tight. James Brackenridge and Dave Roberts were introduced with 15 minutes to go but neither of the new signings could work a winner for the Reds.

Teams:

Curzon
1. David Carnell
2. Danny Whelan
3. James Rothell [C]
4. Andrew Watson
5. David Birch
6. Jamie Byrne
7. Phil Edghill
8. Chris Curley
9. Michael Norton
10. Steven Moore
11. Alex Elliot
Subs
Nick Allen
Bradley Barnes
Tom Bailey
Bradley Clegg
Ryan Burgess

FC United
1. Sam Ashton [C]
2. Kyle Harrop
3. Bradley Howard
4. Dale Whitehead
5. Micah Bleau
6. Adam Turner
7. Adam Carden
8. Dave Neville
9. Kyle Wilson
10. Chris Baguley
11. Carlos Roca
Subs
Dave Roberts
James Brackenridge
Nick Robinson
Rob Howarth
Simon Carden
Rhys Hardie



First Posted ~ 15:38 Sat 9 Aug 2008
News ID ~ 1743
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021