7th January 2005

Hesketh bank 2  Euxton Villa 2

Villa have never enjoyed much success at Station Road in recent seasons, but with all due respect to Hesketh Bank, this must go down as two points squandered rather than a point gained.  Justin Johnston did not have a single save to make, yet the home side managed to grab two goals from defensive howlers to cancel out the two well worked strikes which should have ensured the victory that the balance of play merited.

Kicking down the slope, Villa started positively, and for fully twenty two minutes the home side hardly had a kick. Debutant Neil Bretherton was heavily involved in many of the better moves, and indeed had a shot flash just wide inside thirty seconds, right foot as well!  Then in the eighth minute, Bretherton , attacking through the inside left channel, laid the ball back to Sam Bolton, he in turn picked out Ryan Lilley, who controlled, turned and scored all in one movement.

Five minutes later, Villa could have had a penalty when Lilley was tripped breaking into the box: - had he not stood up, who knows!  Daz Davies had a powerful header well gathered by the young keeper, who in fact put in a very solid performance throughout, and Lilley had another shot well saved, though it was only really a half chance.

Euxton were in total control at this stage, and in truth it looked like a case of ‘how many?’. Then, out of nothing, let’s be kind and call it a ‘mistake’ at the back, allowed ‘Bank an easy tap in to level the scores. 

This, naturally enough gave succour to the hosts, and suddenly Villa found themselves in a game. That said, the visitors still enjoyed the bulk of the play, and nearly went ahead again when another Bretherton shot was parried into the path of Ian Curwen , but his goal-bound strike was somehow turned onto the outside of the post by a desperate defender’s foot.  Bretherton’s fine debut should perhaps have been brought to an abrupt halt shortly before the half hour. Slack covering saw Heaketh bearing down on goal, till a clipped ankle ended the run. Fortunately a yellow card was flashed, when it. seemed to all that red was the only option.

The second half continued in much the same vein, but without Villa being able to get the better of the more than competent home keeper, who counted another fine save from Curwen amongst his display of confident handling.

When Jamie Pennington was introduced with twenty or so minutes to go, and Andy Farley was pushed into midfield, Villa looked to carry increased threat. Pennington delivered a couple of testing crosses within minutes of coming on, and from the second of these, Curwen executed a text book back-post header to put his side ahead once more.

Now it was once again all Villa, but again out of the blue, let ’s be kind and call it a case of failing to deal with a routine piece of gathering the ball, or at the very least finding ‘row z’,  the ball fell kindly for ‘Bank and a speculative volley saw them back on terms once more.

Having dominated proceedings, Villa now looked shell-shocked, and the travelling support would gladly have taken the point and gone home at this juncture. Although Villa came close right at the death from a Mark Swift corner, a point was all that was to be had. In truth, if you are going to continue to give away cheap, cheap goals through shockingly inept defending, then a point is more than you can normally expect at this level.

Villa Line-Up: Johnston, Farley, Davies, L.Chambers (Swift 61), Bolton, Salisbury, Heald, Loughlin, Bretherton (Pennington), Curwen, Lilley (Leigh 81)