Lancashire Amateur Shield  - Round 2

So there we were, holders of the Shield, starting our defence of the prestigious trophy, having witnessed an hour during which we were out-run, out-passed and generally outplayed by the visitors from two divisions below, but thankful that somehow we found ourselves two goals up after seventy minutes, and thinking, ‘let’s just close this down, get out of here and put it down to one of those days!’ All very well in theory, but unfortunately Todmorden, having refused to be overawed in the first place, were not about to co-operate in that particular plan.

From the off it was clear that Borough had not made the long journey just for the afternoon out, and any strangers to the Villa could have been excused for assuming that the team in red and black were the Premier Division team and pre-match favourites, as it was they who exhibited the greater enthusiasm for the task, with the superior accuracy of passing to match. Euxton, on the other hand, looked jaded and shell-shocked and pass after pass went astray as the visitors hustled and harried and were generally sharper to everything.

Nevertheless, before half an hour had elapsed, and right against the run of play, Matt Atherton put the home side in front with a calm finish on the end of a rare cohesive team move. Surely now the match would settle into amore acceptable pattern for the home side. But no, the visitors refused to lie down and accept the inevitable, and Mark McDonnell was grateful for the half time whistle to give him the chance to get his charges inside for a bit of re-focusing.

The second half did start a little brighter for Villa, and they would have doubled their advantage from the first corner of the half, had it not been for a brilliant save by Paul Terry to turn over a point blank header from Lee Chambers.  Once again, back came Borough, and Villa made a couple of changes in personnel to try to address the shortcomings.  That seemed to have produced the desired effect when Phil Woodman produced a determined run and slid in Michael Clitheroe, who placed a fine shot across the advancing keeper into the far corner.  Job done?

No, as it happens. Todmorden rightly felt that their play to this point suggested that there was nothing inevitable at all about the result, and with thirteen minutes of normal time remaining, were finally able to take advantage of some very poor defending and grab a lifeline via Oliver Wood. Thus encouraged, they redoubled their efforts and threw everything they had at their opponents, and were duly rewarded four minutes from time when Wood was again well found by a sweeping cross and used the unexpected space he found himself in too good effect with a well placed header.  Despite Eliot Dunn very nearly snatching it a minute later with a rasping shot, extra time was in fairness the least the visitors deserved.

Worse was to follow for Villa however. Having failed to induce any kind of momentum during the ninety minutes, it was hardly likely that that was about to change, given the fillip their opponents had been handed in the dying minutes. Sure enough, a couple of minutes before the end of the first period of extra time, Danny Brown pounced on a loose ball from a semi-cleared corner and lashed it into the roof of the net.

Just to rub salt into the wound, Villa managed to rally and created more chances during the second period than the whole of the rest of the match, including a cast iron equalising opening when Atherton found himself in front of an open goal, but he managed to volley over from five yards. It was all to no avail, and Borough’s celebrations were commensurate with the magnitude of their achievement.

So, did the lads think they just had to turn up? Are we really missing Trig, Locky, Tommo that much? Or was it simply a bad day at the office? Whatever Villa’s shortcomings on the day, and there were many, congratulations must go to Borough to whom we wish all the best in the next round.

Villa Line-Up: Baxter, C.Chambers Dickinson, Davies, L.Chambers, Clitheroe, Cooper (Bingham 57), Kirkpatrick (Woodman 57), Atherton, Dunn, Craddock (Bolton 102)