Burscough FC just miss out in eight-goal thriller against FC United Of Manchester

 Source: Ormskirk and Skelmersdale Advertiser

 BURSCOUGH valiantly fought back against FC United Of Manchester only to lose a truly incredible eight-goal feast 5-3 on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors raced into a 4-0 lead in the match at the West Lancashire College Stadium.

But in a memorable four minute spell around the hour mark, the Linnets netted three times to trail by only a single goal.

However, the Manchester side regained their composure and put the result beyond doubt with a decisive fifth goal via Adam Jones 13 minutes from time.

After a scrappy opening, United struck first on 13 minutes when a great ball released Carlos Roca on the right who produced a superb cross for Michael Norton to side-foot the ball into the net.

The lead was doubled four minutes later when a long range Roca shot was fumbled by home keeper Craig Ellison and Norton was on hand to slot home the rebound.

On 24 minutes the lead was extended when Roca was played into the box and was challenged from behind.

The referee awarded a penalty and it was Roca himself who stepped up to send Ellison the wrong way for 3-0.

The second-half started brighter for the Linnets who exerted some pressure on the FC United defence.

However, the visitors added to their lead on 55 minutes when Ellison dropped a Roca cross, the ball fell to Ryan McGreevy who was then brought down by the keeper. Again Roca took the penalty. This time it was saved by Ellison, however the ball came back to Roca who fired home.

For some reason, the goal seemed to make the FC United players switch off and it took just two minutes for the home side to pull a goal back.

A long ball into the box wasn’t dealt with by the defence and the ball found its way back to Beesley who fired a shot into the net.

The home side pulled another goal back on the hour. A break from the left found Matty Parry in front of goal and he tapped in. Two minutes later it was 4-3 when the referee adjudged substitute Jake Cottrell to have handled the ball in the box, Beesley netting the subsequent penalty.

United were in danger of throwing all their hard work away but they settled back down and with 13 minutes left on the clock, Roca put in a corner that was powerfully headed home by Jones to seal the points.

Sep 29 2011 by Our Correspondent, Ormskirk Advertiser