20 December 08

Much credit must go to the volunteers of Stoneclough for getting this match on at all, and although the surface resembled a pot of glue in places, overall it held up better than expected, and had no effect on the outcome. That said, a couple of arguably serendipitous late withdrawals robbed Mark McDonnell of his more creative midfielders, and the unusual combination of Stuart Bingham, Sam Bolton and Ian Kirkpatrick actually worked very well in the conditions.

It always helps of course, when you get off to a dream start, and before their hosts could settle, Villa snatched a first minute advantage when their initial venture forward enabled George Craddock to pick out Matt Atherton in acres of space, and with ample time to pick his spot, he was not about to pass up the opportunity.

Duly rattled, the home side found it difficult to get a toehold in the game, and for half an hour it was the Euxton side who held sway, though clear cut chances were few.  Bolton went closest with a thunderbolt from thirty five yards that crashed back off the underside of the bar, and Craddock looked to have doubled his team’s advantage five minutes before the interval, but somehow the keeper pulled of a remarkable reaction save to deny the striker. From the resulting corner, Bingham produced a thirty yard rasper of his own, but the ball was always rising and in the end flew just over. Stoneclough’s nearest effort came as the result of a snap toe poke toward the bottom corner, but although Ross Baxter saw it late, he flung himself full length to turn it round the post.

Stoneclough began the second half seemingly with more belief than before, and came very close to equalising after just five minutes with another low drive, but unfortunately for them it flashed just the wrong side of the post. And just as it looked like there would be a power shift in favour of the home side, Villa rattled them with the best move of the day. Bingham slid an exquisite through ball into the feet of Craddock, who controlled, turned and blasted high into the rigging in one sweet movement.

Perhaps wishing to reflect the mood of the season of goodwill, McDonnell took off Pavel Zverina and Matt Atherton, and in so doing eased the burden on the Stoneclough back line. Suddenly the ball was no longer sticking up front, and from seemingly dead and buried, the home side drew confidence from their increased presence in their opponents’ half.  Baxter was called upon to again get down lively to turn another low drive round the post, before Stoneclough grabbed the life-line they were after with a fine strike on the end of their best move of the day.

Now clearly in the ascendancy, they redoubled their efforts in search of the equaliser, and were unlucky with a shot which came back off the post ten minutes from time.  Inevitably however, as Villa dropped deeper, space opened up behind the home defence, and Bolton was able to exploit with a superbly weighted pass, which Craddock latched on to and shifting his feet quickly, fired a shot which went in off both posts. 

That of course killed off any ambition the home side had of getting back on terms, and little over five minutes left the game was over as a contest. A little bit of nonsense right at the end threatened to spoil a match that was played in good spirit throughout, but referee David Lavery handled it with calm authority, capping a fine overall performance.

Villa Line-Up: Baxter, C.Chambers, Davies (Crombie 83), L.Chambers, Clitheroe, Kirkpatrick, Bolton, Bingham, Atherton (Salisbury 69), Zverina (Briggs57), Craddock.