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West Lancs Prem 8 August 09
The consensus in the supporter’s bus on
the way to Poulton was that, whatever happened, it would not
be as bad as the debacle at the end of last season when we
went there with somewhat of a makeshift line-up. And indeed
it wasn’t as bad as last time. But it came bloomin’ close!
From the outset, Poulton were sharper,
than the visitors in every department, took control early
and pretty much dominated the first half. Villa’s forays
into enemy box were few, and when the ball was worked
forward it came back almost immediately, putting the defence
under relentless pressure. A combination of good
goalkeeping, resolute defending, most noticeably from Stuart
Bingham who was operating like an auxiliary centre back, and
luck, kept the score down to one at the interval. Ironically
the one that counted was clearly off-side, though in
fairness the home side were denied a blatant penalty and
also struck woodwork a couple of times. Villa’s efforts
were restricted to a stooping David Heald header on the end
of a free kick and a long range drive from Phil woodman.
No doubt with their ears stinging, Villa
began the second half like a different team. They took the
game to their hosts and had them well and truly rattled for
the first fifteen minutes. Should have equalised as early as
three minutes in when a Sam Bolton header was blocked on the
line with the rebound falling kindly for George Craddock,
but he couldn’t get power on his shot and it was easily
dealt with. Ten minutes later, the keeper couldn’t hold a
Gavin Cooper free kick, and it took some desperate blocking
to deny both Bingham and Craddock from the rebound.
Sensing that his side had been in danger
of losing their grip, Catlow dropped off the front into
midfield and virtually ran the rest of the game from there.
But with Villa now clearly in the ascendancy, it was a
moment of Kamikaze defending that allowed the home side a
soft second from their first venture forward of the half.
This sucker blow seemed to knock the stuffing out of the
Euxton lads, and Poulton were able to coast through the
remaining minutes to an easy victory, bagging two more tame
efforts along the way.
Every team recognises the importance of
getting their campaign off to a good start, but an early
set-back such as this need not be a total disaster as long
as you bounce back straight away, and with games coming
thick and fast there is ample opportunity to make amends.
Villa Line-Up: Shaun Gibbs, Darren
Davies, Ross Dickinson (Rhenden Pillay 64), Lee Chambers,
Sam Bolton, Phil Woodman, Ian Kirkpatrick (Matt Conway 54),
Stuart Bingham, Gavin Cooper (Noel Clarkson 67), David Heald,
George Craddock.
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