Youth enjoy Formby flyer

With Formby having suffered an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Stalybridge in their opening league game, Sunday’s visit by the FC United youth team was always going to offer plenty of open attacking football and so it proved with the Reds winning a six goal thriller.

FC kicked off and with less than a minute on the clock had a sight of goal which was turned out for a corner. Barely a minute later and FC keeper Jake Edwards was the hero, saving as Formby bore down on his goal.

Chances continued to flow as the Reds poured forward. A fifth minute corner saw FC go close as the Formby keeper desperately recovered his own fumble. Two minutes later only the width of the crossbar saved Formby as a neat move saw Sam Freakes give Jack Lyons an excellent shooting chance.

Although FC were taking charge the game was still flowing from end to end as a Formby corner in the 10th minute was headed just wide. The next 15 minutes were virtually all United as chance after chance went begging. The inevitable breakthrough came in the 26th minute when Jack Lyons broke through the centre of the Formby defence his first shot was parried by keeper Jack Mano in his dashing Atherton Collieries style Black and white jersey, but it rebounded to Lyons who made no mistake with the second effort.

Formby responded to this by slowly forcing their way back into the game, breaking down the left wing, which had been their route of choice and constructed another one-on-one situation with Jake who got a hand to the shot. This slowed it down enough for Alex Sutcliffe to get back and stop it crossing the line despite the Formby appeals otherwise. It is worth noting at this point that video evidence would confirm that it was at least going between the posts; if of course someone at the game had actually been in possession of a camera.

The FC response was swift as Shaun Williams and Sam Freakes combined on the edge of the box to provide Jack Lyons with a tap-in to make it 2-0. That seemed to quieten down the game as chances were few and far between until just before half time when having spent an age stuck under Nick Swirads foot, the Formby no.11 Ian Turner took control and lashed the ball into the net for 2-1.

A half time substitution in which Shaun Connor replaced Stephen Carson at right back seemed to calm the threat from Formby as the second half was dominated by the reds with Shaun Williams shooting wide in the 47th minute and the third goal arriving in the 52nd. A ball down the right wing saw Matthew Wilkinson break clear of the Formby defence, his cross helped on by Jamie Mack to Sam Freakes who couldn’t miss.

The game largely took place in the Formby half until the 74th minute when a rare foray into the FC box saw a Shaun Williams challenge judged worthy of a penalty. Carl Peers using power rather than placement to beat Jake and make it 3-2. This however was just about the last threat posed by Formby as FC controlled the remainder of the game,

A long kick by Jake Edwards, cleared the most of the Formby defence as Jamie Mack and substitute Toby Iloba chased the ball towards the goal, unfortunately the last defender was deemed to have been nudged aside before the ball was put into the goal and the effort was disallowed.

The fourth goal did arrive in the 80th minute from another break as Sam Freakes chipped the ball over the defence before Jamie Mack similarly defeated the keeper. There was still time for the Formby defensive line to fail to play offside twice although neither chance was converted. The game ended Formby 2 FC United of Manchester 4. The game that promised plenty of chances ultimately didn’t disappoint.

The youth team return to St Brides Field in Old Trafford for what promises to be a much sterner challenge against Lancaster City on Sunday kicking off at 2:30pm. With the first team having no game on Saturday it is hoped more supporters may come down to get their football fix by supporting the youth team in what promises to be an intriguing contest.

Formby; using squad numbers lined up:-

1 Jack Mano
8 Thomas Martin
14 Jordan Whelan
4 Ian Rimmer
17 Ben Williams
21 Shaun King
9 Simon Hill
10 Eric Ferrington
11 Ian Turner (Goal 43 minutes)
7 John McDonald
18 Carl Peers (Goal 74 minutes)
Subs
22 James Mousedale
16 Connor Coppel
2 Simon Wosniak
15 Shaun McNicholas
16 Mick Woodhouse

FC United of Manchester
1 Jake Edwards
2 Stephen Carson
3 Barry Davies
4 Shaun Williams
5 Nick Swirad
6 Alex Sutcliffe
7 Mark Reeves
8 Matthew Wilkinson
9 Jack Lyons (Goals 26 & 31 minutes)
10 Jamie Mack (Goal 80 minutes)
11 Sam Freakes (Goal 52 minutes ) (Cautioned 68 minutes)
Subs
12 Toby Iloba (For 8, 61 minutes) (Cautioned 75 minutes)
14 Josh Parkinson
15 Tim Marshall (For 11, 83 minutes)
16 Shaun Connor
17 Andre Holder (For 2, 45minutes)