Chasetown Scholars 1 FC United of Manchester 2

Source: The Lichfield Blog

FC United of Manchester came from behind for a 2-1 victory over Chasetown’s young guns in the Conference Youth Alliance North at Great Wyrley.

The Scholars held sway for much of the first half, but their opponents were well up to the task and eventually proved the stronger in a close-run contest.

The first chance fell to the visitors as a move by Jay Walcott and Scott Cheetham saw the latter fire over the bar, before on 15 minutes Lee Wright’s shot went wide.

Much of the first half’s play was very evenly matched as Chasetown took the game to their rivals, Todd Evans and Jack Pearce blocking the attack of Ferre Edwards on 21 minutes, and three minutes later the Scholars were ahead. A ball in from the right was deflected away by keeper Mark Simms and Chad Degville was there to fire the loose ball high into the net.

The Reds’ response was immediate with Dale Faultless diving low to stop a shot from the speedy Stefanos Ioannou, and Chasetown continued to impress with Zach Cogger going close only to see his shot forced out for a corner by Edwards and Pearce blocking Gage Eme’s shot on 38 minutes.

The hosts held onto their lead until half time, with Cogger unfortunately suffering a neck injury following a challenge in the closing moments of the half.

The scores were levelled just four minutes after the break when Walcott fired a low shot past the diving Faultless into the far corner, and the Reds began to push ever harder to take the lead.

Troy Hemus tried a speculative shot for the Scholars and Degville looked for a second but fired over, while substitute Mark Potts was stopped by Edwards at the point of shooting as Chasetown tried hard to restore their lead.

It was the Reds who were next to find the target, however, as a well-placed header on 68 minutes cleared the Scholars defence allowing Walcott to fire his second goal past Faultless.

An appeal for a penalty was then turned down after some apparent pushing in the area following a Scholars corner, and a further corner from Theo Robinson was headed just wide by Jack Farmer. The visitors kept up the pressure, however, and managed to hang on for victory as Chasetown began to tire in the closing minutes.

Chasetown: Faultless, Farmer, Hemus, Lane, Evans, Pearce, Degville, Westwood, Cogger, Robinson, Wright. Subs: Potts (Cogger 45), Black (Lane 74), Becque, Scragg (Wright 60), Moorhouse, Gaur, Wiggins.
FC United of Manchester: Simms, Shambaer, Banda, Clarke, Buckley, Edwards, Ioannou, Booth, Eme, Walcott, Cheetham. Subs: Guthrie (Buckley 70), Williams, Francis, Bright (Clarke 41).