Div 3 Alexander Crewe Away

The first half started very brightly for Amberswood as within minutes they were one nil up when Payam Doustani squared the ball to his strike partner Craig Gilligan who passed the ball into the net. Amberswood soon went two up, when Carl Stocks from left back intercepted the ball and carried the ball forward evading a couple of challenges and then slid the ball down the line for winger John Warburton to pull the ball back to Payam Doustani who passed the ball into the top far corner of the net.

Amberswood then started to get involved in the physical side of the game and stopped playing the football for the next twenty minutes, which contributed to Alexander Crewe pulling one back as Amberswood started throwing tackles in and committing fouls, Alexander Crewe were getting more dangerous with every set piece until finally they scored with a free kick floated into the box away from the keeper and them being a much taller side an attacker finally managed to get his head to the ball and leave keeper Ian Porter no chance. Amberswood had a few more chances and were pulled up for off-side on numerous occasions before half-time, while Alexander Crewe were limited to set pieces and long range shots.

At half-time manager Phil Atherton seemed to be happy with his sides performance and wanted his side to have another half like the first, but to think about it when claering the ball instead of kicking the ball anywhere, which they did. With Sammer Ahmed and Shane Clark battling it out in midfield and Payam Doustani providing the creative football, Amberswood Started to attack on both flanks with willing runners in John Warburton and Sadegh Ramazani and substitute Chris Gregson. Amberswood soon went three one up when keeper Ian Porter cleared the ball towards Payam Doustani who brought the ball down and evaded a challenge from an Alexander Crewe defender, before knocking the ball into the space behind the defence and running through and the keeper came to clear the ball but it ricocheted off Payam Doustani into an empty net.

As the game was coming to an end Alexander Crewe scored a second goal from a set piece with the same sort of delivery and the same outcome as the first goal and gave Amberswood an anxious last couple of minutes, as they crossed the ball into the box and Amberswood were penned in, Darren Ainscough who had defended excellently and never looked like conceding with help of his central defensive partner Ben Stocks, nearly scored an equaliser for Alexander Crewe, when Alexander Crewe crossed the ball into the box, Darren Ainscough headed the ball which just went wide of the post and out for a corner. From the corner, Amberswood Ian Porter quickly kicked the ball upfield, which Payam Doustani chased, but the keeper quickly raced out from his goal and attepted to clear, but the ball ricocheted off Payam Doustani who got to the ball before the keeper and squared the ball to strike partner Craig Gilligan to score in an empty net. Final score Alexander Crewe 2 Amberswood 4

Man Of The Match: Payam Doustani scored two goals and assisted with the other two