Everyone loves an injury time winner and it took one from The Non-League Reds to seal the points at home against Abbey Hey on Tuesday evening.
It was already the 3rd time the two sides had faced each other this season, with the reverse League fixture ending all square and AFC winning an early FA Cup encounter at home. Needless to say, it was quite an even start as both sides created half chances but neither were able to break the deadlock. Dave Parkinson in the AFC goal, was forced to make a fine save from a Saul Henderson effort on the half hour mark. On 38 minutes AFC suffered a blow, when Adam Sudworth, who had picked up a knock during the warm-up, had to be replaced by Reece Williams. Four minutes later, whilst The Reds were still settling into their reshuffled formation, a harmless ball into their penalty bounced up and hit Owen Fisher-Jones's arm. The referee didn't hesitate to point to the spot and Barnett stepped up to successfully convert the penalty and give the visitors a 0-1 half-time lead. To make matters worse for AFC, Fisher-Jones was 'sin-binned' for his protests.
So the 2nd half began with AFC still down to 10 men for the first 5 minutes. As soon as he returned to even up the numbers, the home side started to assert pressure on their opponents. On 54 minutes, Bobby Murphy, having an excellent game at centre half, broke through one on one with the Abbey Hey keeper, who did well to keep it out. The visitors then hit the woodwork with a fine effort as they reminded their hosts, that they still had to defend as well as push forward. Reece Williams, who was having an excellent game since coming on, was brought down for what looked like a penalty, however, the referee said the first contact was just outside the box. Caleb Jones took the free-kick and narrowly missed the target, however, this turned out to be target practice for AFC's number 7, as in the 72nd minute, from a bit further out, Jones found the top corner with an unstoppable free-kick.
From this point on AFC dominated the chances, even though the visitors also went close themselves, as Parkinson was forced into a couple of saves. Jones almost scored from yet another free-kick, as Abbey Hey struggled defending the edge of their area. As we went into the final ten minutes, Bobby Murphy again went close, Elliot Taylor hit an effort over the bar and then in the 86th minute, Moorcroft crossed to Byron who just failed to guide the ball home with the goal at his mercy.
The board went up to show 5 minutes injury time, but both sides still pushed for a winner. Abbey Hey won a free kick on the edge of the box but it saved well by Parkinson. As the game drifted into the final minute of added time, AFC hit a deep free-kick towards their opponent's area, the ball was headed clear but fell to Matty Brown. He launched a looping ball back into the box and with defenders looking for for an offside flag, Dan Mahafy was the first to react, knocking the ball into the path of Elliot Taylor who rifled home the winner. The celebrations began on and off the pitch and with very little time left for the visitors to respond, AFC had secured the 3 points.
Elliot Taylor, head over heels with his winner
The Non-League Reds travel to Pilkington on Saturday afternoon, where they will renew acquaintances with former AFC Assistant Manager, who is starting to turn things round there. It should be a great game and all support would be greatly appreciated. Kick-off is 3pm.
UTNLR
Final Score - AFC Liverpool 2 v 1 Abbey Hey
Team - 1. Parkinson 2. Brown 3. Fisher-Jones 4. Moorcroft (c) 5. Sudworth
6. Murphy 7. C. Jones 8. Mahaffy 9. Taylor 10. Giblin 11. Bavelock
Subs Used - Williams, Byron, Skillen
(Pics courtesy of Paul Moran & Billy Stirrup)
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