Lancashire Amateur Shield Quarter Final  -  11 Nov 07

 Sometimes, understandably, you question your sanity, traipsing the length and breadth of the region in all weathers following your team, then every now and then up pops a game like this one, and all the cold and miserable afternoons of frustration are banished from the thinking. In this Shield quarter final that was a tremendous advert for amateur football, Fulwood and Villa served up a match that had practically everything – penalty claims turned down, penalty given by a liner, penalty saved, chances spurned, goals disallowed, and finally a last gasp winner to send Villa into the semis for the second season in succession. 

The day was blustery, but the playing surface was perfect, as Fulwood bore down on Villa’s goal right from the off, and a rash challenge inside the box could, on another day, have seen them awarded a penalty before two minutes had elapsed, but the ref waved away all claims. But with the advantage of the wind, it was the visitors who took the game by the scruff of the neck and looked the much more likely to break the deadlock, with a fine exhibition of passing and movement that had their hosts on the back foot for the first half hour. In fact it was fully half an hour before Ross Baxter in the Villa goal was called into action, and that was a fairly tame effort to boot. Meanwhile, Villa’s best chance came off the end of a well worked move instigated by Phil Woodman, but Mat Atherton and George Craddock kind of got in each other’s way in their desire to meet the cross, and the latter fired a volley wide from close range.  

Then suddenly, a rare Fulwood foray into the Euxton box saw an attacker spread-eagled, and though the ref didn’t have the best angle, his assistant was in no doubt and signalled for a spot kick. The penalty was as well struck as you could ever hope to see, low and hard and right in the corner, but somehow Baxter got down to get a big hand to it to turn it round the post. Check out the video on the web site to see just how good a save that was! 

Reinvigorated by that, Villa pressed on, and a couple of well flighted free kicks from Atherton nearly brought joy, with the first headed just over and the second nearly bundled in.  Shortly before the interval, the home side almost grabbed the advantage with a well worked free kick straight off the training ground, but Baxter was again equal to it.

The second half was a different story, with the home side now having the advantage of the strong breeze, it was they who now carried the game to their opponents. Another penalty shout went unheeded when Ross Dickenson fell on the ball, and though it probably hit his arm, in truth he didn’t know a lot about it.  Fulwood won a series of corners, and slammed the ball into the side net from one before finding the back of the net from another, but the last touch was deemed to be from an off-side position.  

Villa weathered the half-hour long storm, and forced their way back into it, and suddenly it was their turn to find the back of the net when Craddock reacted quickly to a through ball, but too quickly for the assistant’s liking and once again ‘off-side’ was the decision. Close – the video evidence is inconclusive.  Then a couple of minutes later, David Heald broke into the box with Craddock in support, but the latter was blocked off in his attempt to reach the cut-back, but again the ref was unmoved.   

As the game entered the closing minutes, both sides were trying to balance the temptation to find a late winner with the fear of going out to a moment’s lapse in concentration in defence. Then, just when extra time seemed inevitable, Heald refused to give up on a ball that should first have been cleared then looked to be running out of play. Somehow he wrapped his foot round it and stood it up at the back post, and if you could pick any one man not to panic in such a situation, it would surely be Tom Whittaker, and it was indeed he who met it on the full to head his side into the semi-finals.  

Of course one’s opinion will always be subjective and is inevitably coloured by the result, but this match really was one for the connoisseur of non-league football. On a day when every Villa player did his bit, special mention is due to Stuart Bingham, once again at his commanding best in the middle, and Tom Whittaker who always looked like he could prove the catalyst for success. But in David Heald, newly returned from a five week sabbatical, Villa had a player to which the more than capable Fulwood defence had no real answer, as he harried and hassled, worked and it has to be said whinged all afternoon, and probably in the end proved the difference between two well matched sides. Next week back to the bread and butter of the league with a trip to Garstang, where Villa will be all out for revenge following an embarrassing lapse at home earlier in the season. Watch the website for directions.

Villa Line-up: Baxter, Walker, Dickenson, Bolton, Bromham, Woodman, Bungham, Whittaker, Atherton (Stewart 89), Heald, Craddock (Loughlin 90).