Moorside rangers welcomed Atherton town A to a drenched agecroft this afternoon in the Manchester league division 4, it's the first time the 2 sides have ever met each other and with the season still in its infancy no one knew what type of game to expect, Atherton got the game underway attacking the lostballbush end and were soon 1-0 (2) in front with a cracking strike from their no10, moorside gave away possession in their own half and when the ball landed at the Athertons front mans feet he let rip an unsavable shot that dipped over Mitch, to moorside's credit they reacted brilliantly and set about trying to get the equaliser jack small starting his first game for the club was being a real menace and went close after 10 minutes, moorside continued to pile on the pressure and were playing some great football but were losing composure in the final 3rd, woody looked dangerous on a couple of occasions but failed to get his shots away, todd also had a good strike from range but was too close to the keeper, a break away from Atherton caused some confusion in the moorside defence and a mix up or lack of communication caused Reece to play a back pass straight passed Mitch who had rushed off his line to clear and into the open net. 2-0 (43), moorsides play certainly didnt deserve a 2-0 defecit going into the break. The halftime whistle went which allowed the home side to regroup and make some subtle changes, the formation went to the more familiar 433 with bardo, chaz and harry coming on for paul, todd and reece as moorside looked to exploit the obvious gaps out wide, the 2nd half belonged to moorside as they searched for a foothold in the game, they were soon rewarded with jack poking home from close range after a neat touch from Harry 2-1, moorside now went from strength to strength and were back on terms after a bullet header by liam from woodys corner. Atherton were shell shocked and looked a shadow of the side that were 2 goals in front after the first 45 worse was to follow as jack popped up with his 2nd of the game again after Harry layed him off 3-2, this seemed to kick start the visitors into a fight back and were unlucky not to equalise as Tom cleared one off the line and then Mitch saving a point blank effort from the follow up, minutes later Atherton again went close but were again thwarted by Mitch who was now having an outstanding game, brandon came on for Jack who had been a real threat midway through the half as the visitors were starting to have some good possession but were being kept out by the moorside defence, the comeback was short lived tho as regular scorer woody claimed his 5th of the season with a well placed shot into the bottom corner to make it 4-2, a couple more changes were made to ensure the victory as crilly replaced woody and todd came back on for a tired dan watts who had ran him self ragged, there was still time for moorside to grab a 5th goal which bardo got after some neat patient build up play which resulted in Harry playing him in from the right side of the box and bardo firing in from the angle 5-2. As Atherton pushed on to try and salvage some consolation gaps were opening up and moorside nearly claimed a 6th, harry got played into a 1v1 with Athertons last defender who looked nailed on to clear but the persistence and strength of Harry allowed him to get goalside with only the keepeer to beat, his 2nd half display deserved a goal and his delicate chip looked destined but for a fingertip save, full time and a fully deserved 3 points for Moorside, a lot of very good performances were put in today, the back 5 were outstanding and liam also had a great game, new boys Harry and jack played their best football for the club so far with jacks 2 goals and being a constant threat earning him the Wendy award, On todays display if Moorside can cut out the slow starts and simple errors they will be a match for anyone in this division, the futures looking bright well done lads
