FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester Badge FC United of Manchester Pitch In

FC United gain first point of the season with draw at Radcliffe

FC United gain first point of the season with draw at RadcliffeFC United finally got their season up and running with a hard fought 1-1 draw v old rivals Radcliffe Borough on a sweltering Bank Holiday Monday.

After the poor showing against Scarborough, Neil Reynolds rang the changes with Jack Lenehan, Mike Potts and James Joyce coming into the side with a change of formation also with Reno selecting three at the back and wing backs.

The game had a lot of endeavour from both sides but was short on goalmouth action. On six minutes a good move saw Adam Dodd cross to Regan Linney who fired over.

Seven minutes later, Boro took the lead when a blocked shot fell at the feet of former FC United favourite Matty Wolfenden, who as we have seen many times over the years, made no mistake in finding the bottom corner of the net.

Just before the half hour mark, the referee called a drinks break which seemed to affect the home side as they started back slowly. FC United took full advantage when a cross found Linney who took his time and fired the ball into the far corner to equalise.

With five minutes left in the half, the Reds came close to taking the lead with a succession of corners. One of these found Chris Doyle who saw his header clip the top of the bar and go over.

FC started the second half brightly, seeing the majority of the ball, Paul Ennis saw a free-kick fly over the bar and Linney came close to scoring his second when he broke into the box but he took too long to shoot and Ollie Martin smothered the shot when it arrived.

On 68 minutes it was the turn of the FC United bar to be rattled when Elliot Rokka ran through the defence and laid the ball to Liam Ellis who blasted against the upright.

As the match wore on, the game stretched with FC looking to break on a few occasions, but good crosses came to nothing. At the other end, Paddy Wharton did well to beat away a shot from ex FC player Scott Metcalfe.

Deep into injury time, a long ball saw Wharton come out of his area to clear, he missed it and the ball ended up with his namesake Ben who luckily for FC fired into the side netting.

A hard fought point the sees the FC season get going and now all eyes turn to another home game v Morpeth Town on Saturday.

Report by Steven Wood

Website man of the match: Curtis Jones. Didn’t miss a header in 90 minutes and was a rock at the back when Boro were pushing for the winner.


First Posted ~ 10:16 Tue 27 Aug 2019
News ID ~ 8470
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021