1874 Northwich vs Northwich Flixton Villa

Recap

1874 NORTHWICH 1-0 NORTHWICH FLIXTON VILLA

A 78th minute goal by Danny Thomas earned 1874 Northwich a scrappy 1-0 win over Northwich Flixton Villa as they closed to within a point of second place Formby, with a game in hand.

After a cagey opening with both teams engaging in a midfield tussle as they tried to exert their supremacy, the game started to open up on the quarter hour mark when Ryan Stewart headed just over the Villa bar. Villa’s goalkeeper Lee Whatmough saved well to deny Daley Woods, Matty Ward and Stewart in a 15 minute spell which saw 1874 dominate the game.

Villa’s enthusiastic, hard working performance belied their status as the division’s bottom club. Villa created few clear cut chances with the 1874 back four, which contained three changes to its personnel from the previous game, held firm and restricted the visitors to mainly shooting from distance. Five minutes before half time Mohammed Ali fired a long range free kick just over the bar, while five minutes after the break, a sweeping pitch length move ended with Martin Gordon shooting wide.

1874 were handed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in the 55th minute. As Connor Tagoe floated a free kick into a packed penalty area an eagle eyed assistant referee spotted a Villa defender grabbing hold of a green shirt and pulling a Northwich player away from the ball’s flight path and raised his flag to indicate the infringement. After consulting with his colleague, referee James Morgan pointed to the spot.
Ward’s weak penalty, easily saved by Whatmough, was indicative of 1874’s lacklustre display.
Playing at the Barton Stadium for the first time in 2014, 1874 continued to strive for the three points on offer but were let down by a disjointed performance in which the ball failed to reach its intended destination all too frequently.

To the relief of the 286 strong crowd, man of the match Thomas reacted quickest to deposit the ball in the Villa net turning home a Rick Bailey corner to secure, what for long periods of the game had looked, an unlikely win to keep the pressure on the top two teams in the NWCFL First Division table and maintain their 100% record over their “Northwich” rivals.

1874 – Conkie, Woolley, Tagoe (Short 73mins), Thomas, Duckworth, Jones, Woods, Bailey, Brandon, Ward, Stewart (Wellstead 62mins). Subs not used – Lunn, Bowyer.
GOAL – Thomas 78mins.

VILLA – Whatmough, Suleiman, A.Ali, Badrock, M.Ali, Omar (Callacher 85mins), Gordon, S.Williams, Ibrahim (K.Williams 67 mins), Owens, Horrocks. Subs not used – Rushe, Norris.
Attendance 286 Referee – James Morgan

SPONSORS MAN OF THE MATCH chosen by Eddie Phillips
1874 – Danny Thomas
Villa – Shaun Williams