Rooney, Rooney! Another win for AFC

Cam Rooney with a great finish to give AFC the lead

A good performance, another Cam Rooney goal and three more points for The Non-League Reds against Barnoldswick Town, made it an enjoyable Friday night at the MTA, despite the blustery conditions.

AFC came into the game on the back of a great win at Glossop North End, where Manager Phil Stafford celebrated his 100th game in charge. They started this game positively too, with Cam Rooney having a 4th minute effort easily saved by the visitor's keeper. Both sides struggled to cope with the wind, which got stronger (and colder) as the evening progressed. Elliot Taylor had a great chance on 19 minutes from a Dan Mahaffy cross, but failed to hit the target with his header. Barnoldswick went forward a minute later and Roberts struck a shot that Dave Parkinson had to push wide of the post. From the resulting corner, Barski rose well unopposed and should have headed home but his effort went over the bar. On 35mins, Owen Fisher-Jones made a great run towards the edge of the box before being tripped, the referee saw nothing wrong with the challenge and the ball broke to Tom Beckett, but his effort didn't test the keeper. Roberts had another effort from outside the box a couple of minutes later for Barnoldswick but it went wide. That was the end of the chances in a pretty uneventful, scrappy half, not helped by the conditions.

The 2nd half started with the wind getting stronger and the temperature getting colder. AFC gradually got on top and Caleb Jones was unlucky on 54mins when his strike flew back out off the post. The home side eventually did break the deadlock on 63mins, when a long ball out of defence found Tom Beckett five yards inside his own half. He ran strongly to the right hand side of the area, holding off the defenders, before crossing to Rooney on the edge of the box to fire home, for his 2nd goal in as many matches. AFC were dominating procedures at this point and ten minutes later, Mahaffy found Liam Paton breaking down the left and as he ran into the angle of the area he slotted it past the keeper to extend the lead.

Liam finishes well to extend the lead

This more or less killed the game as a contest, as AFC looked comfortable and dealt well with any threats that the visitors tried to pose, with full backs Harry Wright-Ocana and Nathan Giblin putting in fine performances and Fisher-Jones and Matty Brown looking very solid. Caleb Jones had half a chance to make it three but headed straight into the keepers hands. In the 81st minute, Catlow, in the visitors goal produced a fine double save, firstly saving a Louie Lancaster effort and then reacting quickly to stop the rebound from Taylor. Taylor had another effort saved by the keeper with the last kick of the game, but AFC had long since secured the win with another good performance.

Staffo receives a shirt to commemorate his 100th game in charge

This coming weekend The Non-League Reds play at home again, this time against play-off chasing West Didsbury & Chorlton. It should be a great game, with a few goals as we continue our countdown to leaving the MTA. Kick-off is 3pm and all support will be greatly appreciated.

FINAL SCORE - AFC Liverpool 2 v 0 Barnoldswick Town

LINE UP - 1. Parkinson 2. Wright-Ocana 3. Giblin 4. Moorcroft (c) 5. Brown 6. Fisher-Jones 7. Jones 8. Mahaffy 9. Taylor 10. Rooney 11. Beckett

Subs Used - Paton, Lancaster, Williams, Murphy, Farrington

(Photos courtesy of Dave Williams)