Late Willoughby goal secures draw against Herfeord and closes gap to six points

A 91st minute equaliser from Kurt Willoughby saw FC United take a point from a 2-2 draw with Hereford and close the gap to safety to six points with nine games left.

The Reds had taken an early lead but saw a goal in either half for the visitors take the lead away, before Willoughby’s deflected free-kick in stoppage time gave the Reds what could be a valuable point come the end of April.

It was another spirited fight back to secure a third consecutive draw but everyone at the club had been hoping for more.

FC United began the game brightly and had the lead after just 13th minutes, after a scramble in the box was prodded home by Chris Sharp to cap off what was a lightning start to the game.

The hope of a simple three points quickly faded though as Hereford levelled things up just three minutes later as Mike Symons put his effort away confidently to make it 1-1.

The game had a real cup tie feel to it; with both teams obviously wanting the three points for their own safety, and tackles were flying in throughout, with the FC midfield and more importantly defence looking to get to every challenge first.

Both teams had great chances to take the lead before the break, with Andy Fisher pulling off a great save to keep Hereford out and just before the break Kurt Willoughby flicked a low corner on at the near post which went just over the bar.

The Reds began the second half brightly and had a couple of early chances, the message from manager Neil Reynolds clearly was to go out for the three points. But the plan was made all the more difficult just 10 minutes into the second half after Eliot Richards scored a sublime goal from outside the box to make it 2-1 to Hereford.

With no time to waste Mike Donohue and Jack Bannister were brought on from the bench, adding even more attacking intent to the FC line up, but Hereford went close to making it 3-1 from a free-kick.

FC United kept on pushing with close efforts for Winter and a cross come shot from Bannister, but as the board went up for five additional minutes it looked as though the game had gone.

Just a minute into stoppage time FC were given a free-kick in what’s quickly becoming known as ‘Willoughby Territory’. Up stepped the FC captain and his effort flicked off the top of the wall, wrong footing the ‘keeper and finding its way into the goal.

With seconds left FC got a corner and up came Fisher to cause some confusion in the box, but the ball in was claimed commandingly by his opposite number Mark Yates and both teams had to take away a point from the game.

With Guiseley losing at home to Southport it’s easy enough to think that we could have closed the gap even further, but as one fan beautifully put it on the way out of the ground: “A point’s better than a kick in the groin!”

Nine games left for FC to pull off a miraculous escape and now with three games without defeat momentum and confidence is surely building within the squad. But the Reds need three points from games and the search moves to Telford next weekend.

Website man of the match: Chris Lynch – gave 100% for the full 90 minutes yet again, leading by example and showing the fight needed for what’s sure to be a tough run in.

Report by Craig Phillips