Lancashire Amateur Shield 20 October 07 

In a tense match that could easily have gone either way, Villa squeezed past this useful Liverpool outfit and grabbed themselves a quarter final spot, thanks largely to the guile of Tom Whittaker and some resolute defending, particularly during the first half hour of the second half, when the visitors tried everything to cancel out Whittaker’s late first half strike.  Xavarians will consider themselves unlucky, not to say hard done by, having had what appeared to be two nailed on penalty claims waved away, which would surely have seen them take the tie into extra time at least, arguably the minimum they were worth on the day.

The game ebbed and flowed during a first half which saw neither side establish any kind of superiority, and although both played with the ball on the deck most of the time and each in turn put together some fine passing moves, in truth meaningful chances were few. Then, shortly before the half-time whistle, Villa were awarded a free kick, in a central position just outside the box. Before the defence had time to organise, Whittaker grabbed the ball, spotted it, then stroked it into the back of the net to everyone’s stunned amazement.  The ref was content than no impropriety had accompanied the strike and the goal was allowed to stand, to, it must be acknowledged, very little complaint from those on the receiving end. 

The second half saw the visitors step up a gear in an effort to get themselves back on terms, and Villa were now finding it difficult to create much going forward.  Michael Bromham executed a rather rash tackle on a marauding attacker, and somewhat fortuitously the man in black deemed the offence to have taken place outside the box, possibly the only person with a clear view who thought so!  Minutes later, Damian Stewart found himself in an unusually deep defensive role and executed  ‘forward’s’ tackle inside the box, but this time nothing was given, much to the relief, and no doubt surprise, of the perpetrator!

However the defence stood firm and Ross Baxter in goal dealt comfortably with anything that came his way, including one spectacular flying save right out of the top drawer.  The storm was weathered, and during the last fifteen minutes or so, the Euxton lads resisted the temptation to drop ever deeper, and things began to open up for them going forward as Xavarians pushed everyone up to try to grab the elusive equaliser. Two outstanding saves were, however, not enough to prevent the home side taking advantage of the extra space, Michael Bromham sending Whittaker away, with the latter employing his customary coolness to put the tie beyond the visitors’ reach. Deep into injury time, substitute Adrian Briggs spurned a gilt edged opportunity to put his side out of sight, opting for power rather than accuracy with the goal gaping, but in all fairness that would have given the score a lopsided appearance that the plucky Xavarians didn’t deserve.

 A mouth-watering quarter final against Fulwood Amateurs is the reward for Villa in three weeks time. Meanwhile, try to get down top next week’s encounter against Turton in what will be the last of the year’s three o’clock kick offs. After that the Firsts are not at home again till December!

 Line-up: Baxter, Walker, Davies, Bolton, Bromham, Woodman, Bingham, Bradshaw (Kirkpatrick 68), Stewart (M.Conway 74) , Craddock (Briggs 83), Whittaker