Poor. Villa have never performed well at Stoneclough, the tiny pitch does not seem to suit their style of play, and on this occasion too many were unable or unwilling to adapt to the more robust type of close control required. Poor passing exacerbated the situation, though in truth three poor officials did nothing to improve the event as a spectacle. Villa did dominate the first half, with most joy coming down the left where Sam Bolton was in rampant mood. However, in a more even second, Stoneclough made the breakthrough that counted, and although their second was clearly miles off side, in the end it made little difference as the visitors failed abjectly to significantly test keeper Tebay in either half.  (excuse the split infinitive won’t you!)

Although Villa had the lion’s share of possession in the first forty five, it was Ross Baxter who was the first of the keepers called into action, palming over a net bound free header just seven minutes in. Villa huffed and puffed, with the aforementioned Bolton and the irrepressible Elliot Dunn being the architects of most of the offensive play. Shots on target were practically nonexistent however. Dunn fired over on the end of a quick break with fully half an hour gone, and Alf Gutteridge fired a good chance wide a minute later with Dunn turning provider on this occasion. The only other efforts were confined to two free kicks, which Greg Johnstone delivered sans the menacing power seen in earlier outings. 

The second half saw Villa kicking up the slope, and the turn around signalled the end of their superiority, with the home side now much more threatening. A couple of decent early chances were fired over, and Baxter produced another fine stop from a well struck low volley. 

Twenty minutes into the half, a clearance from Tebay was latched on to and cleverly lobbed over the advancing Baxter to give the home side the crucial advantage they sought.  

Play if anything became even more scrappy, with Villa unable to construct much in the way of incisive goalmouth action. There was one moment of eccentricity which puzzled players and onlookers alike.

Matt Plano in an unusually advanced position rattled the post with a close shot. Some of the players clearly thought the rebound was out of play, and Plano casually ‘passed’ the ball back towards the sixyard box, where the big centre back palmed it down to halt its flight. However, neither referee nor assistant signalled for anything, and so eventually everyone played on, neither goal kick nor penalty given!

Then, with about fifteen minutes left on the clock, an awkward challenge just inside the Villa box saw David Heald red carded for bringing his man down, even though there were plenty of other players in the vicinity. Baxter parried the resultant penalty kick, but the rebound was poked through to a player who, having encroached, was well ahead of everyone else, and when he tapped the loose ball into the net, for some inexplicable reason a goal was given. 

Villa did exert a bit of late pressure in a vain attempt at redeeming the damage, but a ferocious shot into the side netting from David Warburton was all they had to show for their efforts. The damage was done in the first half however, when Villa were unable to find an end product with their opponents there for the taking. The back four all played well enough but Dunn and Plano were left with too much to do on their own and needed a bigger contribution from some of those around them. 

There are no easy games in the West Lancs Prem, and our adventure against teams from ‘higher’ leagues in the Goldline have shown just how good the standard in our league is.  Villa will come good, but there are tougher tests to come!  

Villa line-Up: Ross Baxter, John Salisbury ( David Warburton 67) Darren Davies, David Heald, Sam Bolton, Matt Plano, Ryan Lilley, Elliot Dunn,  Alex Gutteridge ,Tom Whittaker (Chris Bowman 80), Greg Johnstone (Danial Hogg 62).