Euxton Villa 1 Freckleton 1

Having already had three competitive cup matches, the theory was that Villa would be able to hit the ground running at the start of the league campaign, and use the competitive edge thus gained to see off the early opposition. However, the fine flowing football seen in those encounters was conspicuous by its absence, and the one moment of brilliance which produced a goal of real quality was not enough to subdue a plucky Freckleton side, who had clearly not been sent a copy of the script.

The first twenty five minutes held little to excite supporters of either side. Then, deep in his own half, Stuart Bingham broke up play, and looking up, picked out Ryan Lilley. He in turn laid a perfect ball into the path of Alf Gutteridge, who, still with much to do, set off for the corner. But instead of the expected cut-back, he cut inside from the bye-line and coolly slotted into the far corner. If there is such a thing as a brilliant team goal that was also a brilliant individual goal, then this was it!

The home fans expected villa to go on from here to establish control, and indeed Villa did enjoy the bulk of the territorial advantage for the remainder of the half. Clear cut chances were few however, though Ryan Lilley did call the keeper into action with a half volley from a Gutteridge nod-down, the move having been instigated by Sam Bolton, whose work rate and distribution have impressed in every game so far.  David Heald also had a go with a snap shot, but sadly it was with his less favoured foot and lacked the required direction.

The only real scare for Villa came as the half drew to a close, when a quickly taken free kick caused momentarily panic, requiring an unceremonious whack over his own bar from Bingham to relieve the situation.

Sadly, it was all down hill in a second half which held nothing to give the home fans anything to get excited about. The hoped for superior fitness was never in evidence, and in the enervating conditions, it was the visitors who held sway for most of the second forty-five.

Inevitably, as the match wore on, the team protecting the slender advantage began to drop deeper and deeper. One sees it at every level, from the youngest kids’ team to the England national side. You know it’s going to happen – but how do you stop it?!  Matters were not helped when the industrious and effective skipper Paul Loughlin was forced to give way to ham-string injury with ten minutes still to go.

Sure enough, six minutes from time, a poorly defended corner saw the ball returned across goal from a weak clearance, allowing Simon Carey to tap in unopposed from close range.

Freckleton went on to finish the stronger, spurred on by the vociferous Kevin Holliday in goal, whose distribution of the ball at feet is better than most outfielders can match, though he got himself involved in a bit of controversy right at the end in an incident which on another day could have seen him walk, as Villa know only too well to their recent cost. Oh for consistency!

That said, Anthony Parkinson had a fine game, refereeing throughout with his usual unfussy authority.

Villa Line-Up: Johnston, Pennington, Davies, C.Chambers, Bolton, Gutteridge, Bingham, Loughlin (Crombie 80) Heald (Atherton 84) Stewart, Lilley (Briggs 80)

Discuss this game in the Villa Room!!