Marsh's FC snub proves costly

19/ 2/2009

FORMER Manchester United player Phil Marsh snubbed a bid from FC United to sign him before rubbing salt into their wounds by scoring a hat-trick to give basement club Leigh a shock 4-2 win at Gigg Lane.

FC attempted to sign Marsh in the run up to Saturday’s game and he was the difference between the two sides.

United failed to capitalise on several chances while the Leigh number 10 knocked goals in at will for the visitors.

The reds had already beaten the UniBond Premier League’s basement club 2-0 the previous week and they were expected to strengthen their place in the play-off places on Saturday. But defensive shockers put paid to that notion.

A mix-up between FC keeper Sam Ashton and skipper Dave Chadwick in the first minute resulted in the former bringing Marsh down for a penalty that he converted with ease.

Carl Lomax, making his United debut, hit a post and the crossbar as the reds battled to draw level but it was midfielder Neil Chappell who eventually gained parity for FC with a well taken goal from a rebound.

It did not last though as the impish Marsh nipped in to draw a foul from Adam Tong before picking himself up to convert his second spot kick of the game.

FC drew level again with just five minutes to go through Lomax and the fans must have expected the home side to go on to take all three points.

But two bad howlers in the dying minutes allowed Chris Thompson to score Leigh’s third goal before Marsh secured his hat-trick in injury time.

Seventh-placed United have a mountain to climb as they hope to bounce back this Saturday, February 21. They travel to Kendal where they will have to play mint if they want to edge out the side who lie four points below them with four games in hand. The match kicks off at 3pm.