Mixed Midweek for AFC in the Wind & the Rain

A loss and a win was the outcome of Tuesday and Thursday night games, as the fixtures continue to come round far too quickly.

First up was a home tie against a very strong Ramsbottom United side, who are still very much in the battle for the NWCFL Premier Division title. On a windy night in Bootle, the visitors started brightly as expected and struck the inside of the post with an effort after only 3 minutes.

Luke Sephton should have given Ramsbottom the lead but somehow miscued his shot from 6 yards out and it landed in the grateful arms of Ben Barnes. The visitors were dominating the early stages with goods spells of possession and good pressing.

In the 17th minute AFC thought they had taken the lead when Elliot Taylor headed home from a Caleb Jones cross. However, celebrations were cut short as the striker was harshly adjudged to have been in an offside position, with replays later proving he was indeed onside.

Elliot heads home but is denied by the flag

Taylor went close again with another header five minutes later, but could only find the side netting. Caleb Jones struck an effort straight at the keeper and then Joel Skillen forced the keeper to make a good diving save with his shot from outside the box. So a fairly even first period ended goalless.

The Non-League Reds started the 2nd half very well and pushed the opposition back. There were strong penalty appeals when Joel Skillen was felled in the box, but the referee waved those appeals away.

Holland-Wilkinson went close with an effort for the away side soon after as the game ebbed from one end of the pitch to the other. Dudley almost headed home from a free-kick and then AFC had their best chance of the night. Elliot Taylor was put through on the keeper but unfortunately his well struck shot was straight at the keeper.

The deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark, when Ben Barnes saved an initial effort but the ball fell to Dudley, who kept his composure to score.

From that point on and despite great efforts from AFC, the visitors always looked more likely to score again and that's exactly what happened on 81 minutes, when Holland-Wilkinson found the bottom corner from just inside the box.

So a 0-2 defeat but a good performance from the home side and lots of positives to take from it.

FINAL SCORE - AFC Liverpool 0 v 2 Ramsbottom United

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

7. C. Jones 8. Starkey 9. Taylor 10. Smalley 11. Skillen

Subs used - Rooney, Jamieson, Gerrard

Photos for the Ramsbottom game courtesy of Paul Moran

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Thursday night took AFC on the road to face Abbey Hey, a side still needing a couple more wins to ensure they avoid the relegation battle. If Tuesday night was windy, this night was twice as bad, as both sides struggled to maintain any quality possession.

Caleb twisting and turning in the rain

It was the Non-League Reds (wearing all gold) that struck first in the 13th minute, when Joel Skillen put Caleb Jones through on the edge of the area. He managed to get his shot off under pressure from the full-back and found the far corner to give AFC a 1-0 lead and notch his 16th goal of the season.

Caleb strikes to give AFC the lead

The visitors looked comfortable at this stage, despite playing against an ever increasing wind. However, all that was to change on 26 minutes when Dan Mahaffy was shown a red card following a strong challenge.

AFC regrouped well and despite the numerical advantage, Abbey Hey only really forced Ben Barnes into one good save on 35 minutes. So AFC went to the break one goal to the good but knowing that it was going to take a big shift from them in the 2nd half.

During the break the heavens opened and boy did they open. Torrential rainfall throughout the 2nd half just added to the tension around the ground, as to their credit, both sides fought tooth and nail to take something from the game.

Ben has to deal with another ball into the six yard box

Owen working hard to keep Abbey at bay

Abbey Hey were pushing men forward all the time and went just wide of the target on a couple of occasions. AFC tried to hit them on the break but struggled to find that final killer pass.

Tom Beckett made his long overdue return from injury and almost sealed the points for AFC, but knocked his effort over the keeper but just over the crossbar.

With the rain still pouring down, the referee blew his whistle and AFC came away with all three points. A great team effort from everyone concerned, particularly having gone down to 10 men so early in the contest.

3 points in the rain for The Non-League Reds

The fixture fiasco continues this Saturday, with an away trip to local rivals South Liverpool, with a 3pm kick-off. It will be the lads' 4th game in eight days, a ridiculous state of affairs at this level of the game and clearly something that the powers that be need to address, for the sake of everyone involved in Non-League football.

Thanks for your amazing support this week and hopefully we will see a few of you at Jericho Lane on Saturday afternoon.

FINAL SCORE - Abbey Hey 0 v 1 AFC Liverpool

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

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

Subs used - Beckett, Moorcroft, Jamieson, Gerrard

Photos for the Abbey Hey game courtesy of Richard Worsnip @trickyvegas on ‘X’.