This is the footy version. Those of a non sporting nature may want to skip past this entry.
Valley Road. The fortress of Flixton FC. A 9 feet high perimeter fence enclosing the mudded pitch, reminisent of The Somme. Thankfully we didn't have to wait til the Christmas ceasefire for a football game to break out.
Even before the echo of the starting whistle had subsided, the ball was in the hands of the Formby goalkeeper. Within seconds it was in the waiting arms of his opposite number. True 'end to end stuff'. Sadly, the toing and froing didn't amount to a shot on target for almost all of the first 45 minutes. Neither side dominated, and neither side showed signs of breaking the deadlock, until the half hour.
Flixton's right-back and one of Formby's strikers chased a through ball towards Flixton's corner flag. To every man and his dog in the ground it looked like it was going out of play for a goal kick, but the right-back took it upon himself to body check the attacker, with no apparent play for the ball. A deserved free kick was awarded, about a yard from the corner the flag. The ball was swung in, a few headers ensued, then a toe-poke into the bottom right hand corner of the goal left the goalkeeper ferretting in the back of the net for the ball and Flixton 1-nil down.
No more action til half time.
The second half was clearly dominated by two things: Flixton pressing for an equalizer, and Formby pressing for the final whistle. With only a few minutes on the second half's clock they were time wasting; delaying throw-ins, arguing over free-kicks, faking injuries. Even at this level of football, to sit back on a 1-nil lead is scandalous.
Flixton's first big chance of the half came at 15 minutes. Flixton broke away and a three on three situation occurred. A clever pass from the right to left wing left the Flixton striker one on one with the keeper. I know he'll blame the turf, but what happened next was a farce. The forward went for a shot on goal, clipped a divot and ended up on his arse. The ball went forward no more than 12 inches, the Formby keeper easily gathered it, and kept the game flowing.
15 minutes later, half an hour into the 2nd half, Flixton's next best chance came. 21 men camped out in the Formby area, the ball playing pinball between players, and suddenly a looping high ball was falling towards an unmarked central midfielder. He teed up his shot, positioned
his body perfectly, and let fly....
Sadly, due to the fact his timing was off, the ball had massive amounts of top and side spin on it and there was a defender in the way, there is now a house in Valley Road that has a new football as a garden ornament.
As the ref studied his watch, the last chance of the game also fell Flixton's way. A corner awarded, and as in all good cup ties, even the goalkeeper was heading into the box for a chance to steal glory. The ball fell to the keeper's feet and he struck it first time, perfectly straight, right between the posts....
...only twenty feet too high. It's now in the same garden as the previous ball.
..and so it ended. Flixton out of the Vodkat League Cup at the last 16 stage. A fantastic day out though, but I can't say Formby fully deserved the victory. The way the game played out, nil-nil would have been a fairer result, but you can't have everything.
Valley Road. The fortress of Flixton FC. A 9 feet high perimeter fence enclosing the mudded pitch, reminisent of The Somme. Thankfully we didn't have to wait til the Christmas ceasefire for a football game to break out.
Even before the echo of the starting whistle had subsided, the ball was in the hands of the Formby goalkeeper. Within seconds it was in the waiting arms of his opposite number. True 'end to end stuff'. Sadly, the toing and froing didn't amount to a shot on target for almost all of the first 45 minutes. Neither side dominated, and neither side showed signs of breaking the deadlock, until the half hour.
Flixton's right-back and one of Formby's strikers chased a through ball towards Flixton's corner flag. To every man and his dog in the ground it looked like it was going out of play for a goal kick, but the right-back took it upon himself to body check the attacker, with no apparent play for the ball. A deserved free kick was awarded, about a yard from the corner the flag. The ball was swung in, a few headers ensued, then a toe-poke into the bottom right hand corner of the goal left the goalkeeper ferretting in the back of the net for the ball and Flixton 1-nil down.
No more action til half time.
The second half was clearly dominated by two things: Flixton pressing for an equalizer, and Formby pressing for the final whistle. With only a few minutes on the second half's clock they were time wasting; delaying throw-ins, arguing over free-kicks, faking injuries. Even at this level of football, to sit back on a 1-nil lead is scandalous.
Flixton's first big chance of the half came at 15 minutes. Flixton broke away and a three on three situation occurred. A clever pass from the right to left wing left the Flixton striker one on one with the keeper. I know he'll blame the turf, but what happened next was a farce. The forward went for a shot on goal, clipped a divot and ended up on his arse. The ball went forward no more than 12 inches, the Formby keeper easily gathered it, and kept the game flowing.
15 minutes later, half an hour into the 2nd half, Flixton's next best chance came. 21 men camped out in the Formby area, the ball playing pinball between players, and suddenly a looping high ball was falling towards an unmarked central midfielder. He teed up his shot, positioned
his body perfectly, and let fly....Sadly, due to the fact his timing was off, the ball had massive amounts of top and side spin on it and there was a defender in the way, there is now a house in Valley Road that has a new football as a garden ornament.
As the ref studied his watch, the last chance of the game also fell Flixton's way. A corner awarded, and as in all good cup ties, even the goalkeeper was heading into the box for a chance to steal glory. The ball fell to the keeper's feet and he struck it first time, perfectly straight, right between the posts....
...only twenty feet too high. It's now in the same garden as the previous ball.
..and so it ended. Flixton out of the Vodkat League Cup at the last 16 stage. A fantastic day out though, but I can't say Formby fully deserved the victory. The way the game played out, nil-nil would have been a fairer result, but you can't have everything.
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