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Fast becoming the
League’s draw specialists, Villa yet again failed to
capitalise on superior territorial and possession stats to
secure the victory that, had it been a boxing match, would
surely have been awarded them on points! Former Villa
favourite Justin Johnson had a big say in the outcome,
pulling off two spectacular saves to thwart his erstwhile
colleagues.
Kicking towards the
Clubhouse End in the first half, Villa enjoyed the bulk of
the play, but fully half an hour had elapsed before any
meaningful threat to the Fulwood goal materialised. From a
Matt Atherton corner, Sam Bolton headed on to where Ross
Dickinson had, as he so often does in these situations,
stolen in almost unnoticed, but this time he couldn’t quite
stretch the neck muscles sufficiently to nod home. Ten
minutes later, Atherton had Villa’s hopes up with a well
executed overhead kick from a throw in, but it narrowly
missed the target. Then, a couple of minutes from the
interval, Dickinson fired a thunderbolt from thirty yards,
but Johnson saw it all the way and produced a theatrical
diving save, one for the cameras to be sure!
No doubt the home
side were the dominant force in the first half, but the
Fulwood defence stood resolute, and the old adage about
making sure you score when clearly in the driving seat was
never more true. The second half was much more even, with
play ebbing and flowing from end to end, but it was still
Villa who created such few clear openings that two well
marshalled defences allowed.
Twenty minutes into
the half, Ryan Lilley’s tenacity saw him rob the ball just
inside the box, and in one movement he turned and fired a
swerving shot that was bending into the far corner, till
Johnson threw himself full length to get fingertips to it to
turn it round the post. Then five minutes from the end,
Matt Conway drove a measured pass into the path of Atherton
bursting through the inside right channel. Looked to be
clear one-on-one, but elected to square the ball rather than
shoot, but the support hadn’t quite managed to keep up with
his lung-bursting run, and the chance had gone.
A watchable enough
match for a ‘nil-niler’. Though Shaun Gibbs in the home
goal was never stretched, Fulwood defended stoically, and
seemed happy with the point they came for. A look at the
subsequent table shows that both teams have conceded the
same number of goals to date, and although Fulwood have
scored only two more than Villa, they have six more points
and enjoy a somewhat healthier position. Too many drawn
matches from what should have been a winning platform, would
seem to be the challenge facing the coaching staff. On a
more positive note, with the seconds having no game, Mark
McDonnell took the opportunity to have a look at Danial Hogg
in the second half, and he certainly did his cause no harm.
No doubt more will be heard from that quarter.
Villa Line-up: Shaun Gibbs, Adam McAlister, Darren Davies,
Lee Chambers, Ross Dickinson, Sam Bolton, Matt Atherton,
Matt Conway, Tom Whittaker (Danial Hogg 50), david Heald,
Ryan Lilley
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