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United look to build momentum as the Villagers come to town

Saturday’s victory and performance away to Stafford Rangers would surely have put a smile on manager Karl Marginson’s face on his sick bed but he will know the importance of following up such a good result and performance as United welcome North Ferriby United to Bower Fold for the first home game of the season on Wednesday evening. Craig Phillips provides this preview...

The Reds controlled the game against The Boro on Saturday and rarely looked troubled in a 2-0 win that quite honestly could have been more with the number of clear cut chances United had in the second half.

Impressive debuts at the back from new goalkeeper James Spencer and centre backs Adam Jones and Dean Stott as well as a rejuvenated Carlos Roca and Ben Deegan were just some of the highlights from Saturday’s performance which gave plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

United striker Michael Norton will again miss the game due to his suspension carried over from the back end of last season so the starting line up could be the same as Saturday although the extent of the injury that forced Kyle Jacob’s from the field in the first half remains to be scene. But the strength in depth was shown at weekend when Richard Battersby comfortably slipped back from centre midfield to cover for Jacobs.

The game is the Reds first home fixture of the season at Bower Fold although there was the friendly against Stalybridge there a couple of weeks ago which United came away with a good draw against the Conference North team.

Last season’s fixtures at Bower Fold were incident packed and the atmosphere generated in a more compact venue compared to Gigg Lane can provide special performances from the team; think the 4-2 win over Chasetown that fired the Reds back into the promotion race last season.

The teams have met seven times in total with only one defeat for United with four wins and two draws. United have also never lost at home to The Villagers.

United won this fixture last season 2-0, with both goals coming from Mike Norton, and weeks earlier the Reds fought hard for a point in a 1-1 draw on Humberside which the home team reversed a first half own goal to split the points.

The Villagers were originally formed in 1934 after it was decided at a village meeting that a local football team would be a good idea and they initially played in the East Riding Church league, winning the title in 1938.

With players serving in the Second World War the club was reformed shortly after the war, and joined the East Riding Amateur League, before moving to the Yorkshire League in 1969.

The club joined the newly formed Northern Counties Eastern league in 1982, and moved their way up through the divisions, before winning promotion to the Unibond Northern Premier League in 2000.

In 2005 they were promoted to the Premier Division, and a year later they were play-off finalists losing out to Farsley Celtic in the final. Last season they also reached the play-offs losing out to Colwyn Bay in the semi finals, who of course beat United 1-0 in the final to win promotion to the Conference North.

The Villagers most notable cup run came in 1997 when they reached the final at Wembley of the FA Vase; a match they eventually lost 3-0 to Whitby Town.

Dean Windass is the club most famous player having started his career their in 1990, before moving to Hull City in 1991; Windass of course went on to score the most famous goal in Hull’s history sealing promotion to the Premiership in 2008.

This season didn’t get off to the best start for the Villagers as they were beaten 2-1 at home to Gary Flitcroft’s newly promoted Chorley team. A late Villagers goal from Paul Harsley wasn’t enough to pull back Chorley’s goals either side of the interval.

So both teams will be looking to get something out of Wednesday’s game, United looking to build on the three points from Saturday while the Villagers will be looking to put the first points on the board for the season.

It looks set to be another fantastic night of football so get yourself down to that football ground for the usual 7.45pm kick off after the renditions of bring on United!



First Posted ~ 22:25 Wed 17 Aug 2011
News ID ~ 3700
Last Updated ~ 00:47 Tue 16 Feb 2021