Friday, December 05, 2008

FC United 3 Hednesford Town 0

Unibond Premier League

3:06pm Wednesday 3rd December 2008

By Liam Chronnell

FC United fired out a title warning to their rivals after returning to winning ways with a convincing victory over leaders Hednesford Town.

The Rebels ended a run of the three UniBond Premier League games without a win in style at Gigg Lane on Saturday.

The prolific Kyle Wilson struck twice and Jerome Wright once as the Reds sealed the points.

Karl Marginson’s 11th-placed side trail Hednesford by 14 points but have two games in hand.

And the Reds boss has now urged the breakaway club to climb the table.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the lads and they’ve given themselves a massive confidence boost with that result,” he said.

“Our challenge now is to build on it.”

Wilson put the home side ahead on 13 minutes, but the near 2,000 crowd had to wait until the 70th minute for the league’s top scorer to add FC’s second – and his 22nd of the season – before Wright added a third five minutes from time.

Marginson also has high hopes for new boy Tommy Turner, who made his debut at the weekend.

FC signed the North West Counties League top-scorer, who struck 17 goals in 14 appearances, from Bacup Borough.

“Tommy is a hard worker and a good finisher,” said the manager.

“He played against us for Salford City a couple of seasons ago and scored in both games. We were pretty impressed with him then. He drifted away from the game a bit, but has made an impact at Bacup.”

But, while league form is on the up, United have tumbled out of two competitions in the last week.

Hopes of Wembley glory were shattered when they lost 3-1 in their FA Trophy third qualifying round tie against managerless Boston United last Wednesday at Gigg Lane. Papis Deytte’s late goal proved no more than a consolation.

And United crashed out of the League Challenge Cup 3-0 at Woodley Sports on Tuesday night. Injuries and illness forced Marginson to blood a number of youth team players, and the UniBond Division One North outfit proved too strong for inexperienced Reds as goals from Paul Collins (2) and Gavin Salmon eased the hosts into the fourth round.

The Gigg Lane tenants face a trip to Eastwood Town on Saturday followed by a home clash with Ashton United on Wednesday.