The Euxton Massive arrived at New Longton hoping to sustain those winning days of 2007. The weather was bright & mild. The Villa shared tales of presents & Xmas before warming up and getting ready for battle on a heavy pitch.

1st Half
A good start by both teams but it was Villa who applied the pressure from the start with good battling by Tom M & Jamie G made space for Will to pass across field to Smithy who slotted home the first after only 4mins.0-1.
Longton rallied however and for some strange reason the Villa started to play deep and this brought the play into the Villa half. Longton won 2 corners on 11mins and for the next 20mins it was honours even. The Villa back four did well to protect Ryan M who did his job well when asked to come forward to collect. Longton continued to push on stout heading from Tom G & Alex and pace & vision from Sam & Jamie A cleared the ball time & again but the Villa midfield were on the back foot and the only service to the forward came when they collected it and spread the play themselves, Greg & Charlie had chances as did Will & Smithy but the Longton keeper was on fire, indicated by the “best save of the season” when he launched himself to parry a certain goal.
Villa took the corner as the ref blew (for what he thought) was half time on 30mins. The restart for the final 5mins saw much of the same, balanced , fair & tough play from both sides.
It was ironic that Longton secured the equaliser in the “extended” period on 33mins. 1-1.

Half Time 1-1
George & Dave were ok with the effort and slightly disappointed with the result. They wanted a little more commitment in the middle of the park and little more movement down the wings …oh and a new linesman! Things remained unchanged for the restart.

2nd Half
This was definitely a game of two halves ….identical two halves. Jamie G did what had been asked of him and stuck won the ball against the odds and Greg ran through after only 35secs to plant one past the keeper, not an easy job to do today.1-2.
Villa won a few corners and the game switched in control from one minute to the next but with Villa having the greater chances. Will came off on 15mins with Kyle going on right back, Jamie A pushing up and Smithy covering left wing. The boys dug in and played out the half battling were needed but still playing deeper than is comfortable and whilst Longton never really had on target shots they always looked dangerous going forward. Smithy & Steven swapped on 25mins.
It was with a sigh of relief that Charlie after chasing every opportunity secured a goal in the 33mins. 1-3. The ref blew on 35.

Full Time 1-3
A very hard fought 3 points with a few mince pie effects showing on the pitch. Had Longton not had their keeper or he hadn’t been on form it would have been a bigger difference but that’s football and the spirit the Villa showed was a good one, they stuck at it.