Sat nav's & route finders were a must for our first long distance away game of the season as we faced our toughest test yet against the league's early pace setters Vale Madrid. Gavin Heard made 3 changes to the side which defeated Western Speke a week earlier which saw debuts for Wesley Pitchford & Anthony Moore as well as a first start for John Davies. As expected the game began with a frantic tempo as the home side looked at getting in our faces early doors as they looked at extending their lead at the top, but we settled down and created the better chances in the opening stages, Wesley Davies hit a well struck shot which deflected wide after 10 minutes and Wesley Pitchford was denied by a good save from their keeper shortly after. The home side certainly created a number of good chances themselves to open the scoring but Phil Founds made a great save to deny them and luck was on our side when John Marsh hit his own crossbar after sliding in to challenge their left winger. The new centre forward pairing of Pitchford & John Davies put in a great shift and were both causing problems for their defenders chasing down every ball but we just failed to create a clear cut chance. Our other best chance of taking the lead came yet again from the right peg of Wesso Davies who unleased a great strike which produced a brilliant save from one of the borrowers in The Madrid goal, (half time 0-0)
We took the lead on the 49th minute when a long ball down the right flank was chased by John Davies who manged to force an error from the full back and play a dangerous cross which was cleared only as far as Kieran Dolan who played a quick pass to Anthony Moore who took the ball past the defender and cut in on his left foot and smashed a pile driver into the roof of the net. The goal sparked a reaction from the home side who hit back with an equaliser on 56 minues when Brian Kerwin failed to deal with a long ball over the top and Phil Founds was beaten with a well timed finish into the far corner. The game was a non-stop battle all over the park, centre half James Gregory injured his arm but soldiered on winning every header with his trademark shout and we showed fantastic character in recovering from conceding our first goal of the campaign. Ian Jordan who came off the bench to score twice against Polonia Camps replaced Anthony Moore on the hour mark and the change once again paid dividends when after 75 minutes Paul Langley fired in a great cross which was headed in past the keeper by Jordan who is now the leading goalscorer scoring 3 goals as a substitute. Ian has now been booked into Herberts Salon for a Davey Fairclough ginger perm. Vale Madrid had a big shout for a penalty in the final minutes but Phil Founds managed to get his finger tips onto the ball and the appeal was waved away from the referee. The final whistle was blew and Vale's 100% record had ended which sparked jubilent scenes from the travelling line and a pitch invasion from a set of false teeth, it has been a terrific start to the season which was rewarded with a big pan of scouse all round.
Man of the match: It was a fantastic all round team performance as every single player played their part in the result, but captain Kieran Dolan was superb in the middle of the park and just edged it
Subs not used: Neil Hunter, Dean Judge, Jay Duckworth, Thomas Friday
Next up: 2/10/10 Intermediate cup 2nd round vs Claremont FC (a)
