FC United 6 Colne 2

Source: M.E.N.

Paul Gallagher
3/ 3/2007

RHODRI GIGGS nodded home FC United's 100th league goal of the season as the Rebels crushed Colne.

Giggs, returning from a bout of 'flu, put in a man of the match performance and netted the landmark goal on 34 minutes.

Karl Marginson's team, who lead the NWCFL Div 1, average three and half goals a game and the 2,456 crowd at Gigg Lane revelled in another display full of attacking verve.

The home side started briskly and had two goals disallowed in the first 11 minutes as they created a host of chances.

Rory Patterson, in menacing form at the heart of United's attack, broke the deadlock when he controlled a long pass on his chest in the penalty box, spun round on the spot and hooked the ball home off the far post.

Colne responded well to the set back and equalised three minutes later when Liam Garbutt thumped home a left foot volley from 25 yards.

The visitors should have taken the lead as they benefited from some scrappy defending but FC United recovered their composure and hit back with three goals in five minutes.

A superb cross by Patterson gave Jerome Wright a tap-in at the far post on 31 minutes. Then it was Giggs, making his first start in five games, who scored the club's 100th League goal with his glancing header.

Wright made it 101 with his second of the match, again benefiting from the vision of Patterson who had nodded on a long ball to play him through on goal.

The tempo slowed in the second half but the Rebels' captain David Chadwick was rewarded for a strong performance all over the pitch when he headed home unchallenged at a corner to make it 5-1.

And the exhausted Colne defence had melted away by the time substitute Phil Power took down a long ball on the edge of the six yard box to score FC United's sixth.

Colne pulled one back with a 76th minute penalty by substitute James Blackburn but the game had been long lost.