Rampant Reds in Seventh Heaven

The Non-League Reds finally got back in action, after a number of recent postponements. The long wait was well worthwhile as the lads flew out the blocks and put in a memorable performance at Barnoldswick Town.

It took just 7 minutes for AFC to break the deadlock. Dan Mahaffy won the challenge from a poor clearance from the home keeper, the ball fell to Joel Skillen who calmly curled the ball into the empty net from 25 yards.

Joel celebrates AFC's opener

Skillen almost scored again a few minutes later but was denied by a good save. Hill went close for Barnoldswick from a corner, but it was AFC that looked the more likely to add to their lead. Caleb Jones went close with an effort from outside the box as the visitors continued to press.

The home side's cause wasn't helped moments later when Caleb Jones put Elliot Taylor through, the last defender pulled him to the ground and was promptly shown a red card. Caleb took the resulting free-kick and coolly beat the wall and doubled AFC's lead after 22 minutes.

Caleb fires home from the free-kick to double the lead

It was the visitors who were unsurprisingly dominating proceedings at this point. On 29 minutes, Dan Mahaffy rose to head home from a Caleb Jones corner. The home side responded and forced a good double save from Ben Barnes. However, it didn't take long for AFC to put themselves out of sight, when Giblin and Skillen exchanged passes, found Taylor, who played in Dan Mahaffy to finish well from just inside the area, for his 2nd and his team's 4th.

Elliot Taylor thought he'd made it five but was harshly judged to be offside and AFC had to settle for a four goal lead at the break.

AFC went close again in the opening five minutes of the 2nd half, with Taylor heading straight at the keeper. Mahaffy almost got his hat-trick, when shooting narrowly wide of the target, but on 59 minutes, The Non-League Reds finally hit their 5th goal of the afternoon. A fine move resulted in a Joel Skillen effort that the keeper could only parry into the path of Caleb Jones who finished for his 2nd of the match.

It was six on 63 minutes, when Liam Paton followed up well to fire home from the edge of the box, just a few minutes after coming on as a substitute. Liam wasn't finished there, as he got his 2nd in the 78th minute, when an Elliot Taylor cross found him at the back post and he slotted it past the keeper, to make it 7-0 much to the delight of the AFC travelling faithful.

The home side were reduced to 9 men in the final stages of the game, but despite Elliot Taylor going close again, it ended with a memorable 7-0 victory for AFC.

The Non-League Reds have a home tie on Tuesday evening, when they will face a strong Stockport Town side at the Berry Street Garage Stadium. Kick-off is 7:45pm and all support will be appreciated.

FINAL SCORE - Barnoldswick Town 0 v 7 AFC Liverpool

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

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

Subs used - Paton, Rooney, Madden, Jamieson, Falloh

Photos courtesy of Dave Williams