Caleb At The Double As Reds Reach Last Four

pic courtesy of Kate @Goose4452x

An early goal from Elliot Taylor and a Caleb Jones double, secured The Non-League Reds place in the last four of the Macron Cup.

After falling victim to the weather at the weekend, the game was rearranged for the Tuesday evening and thanks to a dry day and some excellent work from the Groundsman, the surface was in excellent condition.

It was AFC that got off to a flying start in the 5th minute, when Elliot Taylor out muscled the Euxton defender to get on a long pass from Nathan Giblin. The striker won possession outside the box, turned and fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net, for his 32nd goal of the season.

Elliot powers home the opener

Both sides had promising spells of possession but struggled to create any meaningful chances. Euxton's Joel Booth had a half-chance that he guided over the bar, when he probably had more time than he thought.

On 25 minutes, Dan Mahaffy twisted and turned his way into the box but unfortunately miscued his left-footed effort wide of the target. However, in the 38th minute it was the home side that doubled their lead. Typically good battling by skipper, Adam Moorcroft, resulted in the ball breaking for Taylor. He broke away from two chasing defenders and hit a strong shot that the keeper did well to save, but pushed it into the path of Caleb Jones, who calmly finished to make it 2-0 to AFC.

Caleb celebrates making it 2-0

As the half neared it's end, Nathan Giblin made a great block to deny the visitors an effort on goal and this typified the excellent performances that he, Owen Fisher-Jones, Matty Brown and Jack Hinnigan had put in, to keep Euxton at bay.

Dan Mahaffy went wide with an effort in the opening minutes of the 2nd half. A few minutes later, Caleb Jones dinked an effort over the keeper but was denied a goal by the flag being raised. Cameron Rooney, alongside Dan Mahaffy and Joel Skillen were having excellent performances in midfield, as they worked hard to press the opposition in to errors.

On the hour mark, visiting keeper Oliver Lombard produced a magnificent save from an Elliot Taylor header, when the striker seemed certain to add to his tally. Adam Moorcroft forced the keeper to push his headed effort round the post as AFC looked to put the tie beyond doubt.

Despite their best efforts, the visitors couldn't find a way back into the game and with four minutes left of normal time, AFC's place in the final four was confirmed. A long ball from Nathan Giblin turned the Euxton defence and when the defender miscued his back pass, Caleb Jones was there to chip the ball over the keeper to make it 3-0 and claim his 2nd of the night.

Caleb gets his 2nd and secures a Semi-Final spot

So a fine disciplined performance from all 16 of the squad, earns The Non-League Reds a Semi-Final tie at home to a very strong Nelson FC side. This weekend sees us back on the road for our latest League game, as we visit Longridge Town and kick-off is 3pm.

FINAL SCORE - AFC Liverpool 3 v 0 Euxton Villa

LINE-UP - 1. Barnes 2. Fisher-Jones 3. Giblin 4. Moorcroft (c) 5. Brown 6. Hinnigan

7. C. Jones 8. Mahaffy 9. Taylor 10. Rooney 11. Skillen

Subs used - Smalley, Madden, Wright-Ocana, Jamieson, Blankendal

Photos courtesy of Paul Moran