Badgers well beaten as tough start continues in Evo-Stik Premier Division

Source: This is Retford


THE Badgers were well beaten as FC United notched up an impressive 5-1 victory at Gigg Lane on Saturday.

Retford were without a point and took on an FC United with a 100 per cent record.

Retford were without Ryan Ford (injured), but welcomed new signing Niall O'Brien following his move from Worksop Town.

The Badgers were a goal down after two minutes.

Carlos Roca's run won the hosts a corner and when the ball was floated in, Martin Parker rose to give his side the lead.

Another strong break for FC United saw Jerome Wright's shot taking a nasty deflection that led to another corner. This time Dan White was able to clear.

On the half hour, FC United extended heir lead, Roca doing well to get through the defence and fire past Richard Jeffries.

FC United's third goal came on 38 minutes when a poor clearance by Jeffries fell to the feet of Jake Cottrell just inside the Retford half.

As the Retford keeper was off his line, the FC United midfielder fired the ball straight back towards goal over Jeffries.

In the second half, Jeffries was once again called on when Norton looked certain to score.

He unleashed his shot but Jeffries was down to put the ball away for another FC United corner.

Retford looked to have more purpose in the second half and Danny Mayman did well to get into a shooting position, but Ashton was determined to keep a clean sheet.

Norton again caused a stir in the Retford box, meeting a cross to hit wide at the near post, but then the fourth goal came, substitute Colin Little beating Jeffries with a well-worked goal on 66 minutes.

Two quick corners for Retford saw Steve Owens, on as a substitute for Steve McDonnell, rise and power a header towards goal that crashed off the crossbar.

He did get his reward on 71 minutes, when a mistake by Ashton saw the FC United keeper way out of his area, he failed to deal with the clearance letting Owens through into the box.

Ashton did well to recover as Owens was pushed to the right hand side of the box, but the Retford striker did well under pressure to keep control and slot the ball into an empty net.

The final goal of the game came with five minutes remaining, and it was Little who secured his brace.

The striker showed a neat first touch to control the ball, flicking it over his head before turning to fire on target giving Jeffries no chance from distance.

The game finally ended in front of a noisy 1785 crowd, but it was enough to keep up FC United's 100 per cent record, and consign Retford to another defeat, leaving them bottom of the table.