Farnworth Social Circle Away

In the first half, Amberswood were a little slow coming out of the blocks and Farnworth Social Circle were the better side, creative in midfield, but failed with the final ball to trouble Amberswood keeper Danny Hilton who was more like a sweeper than a goalkeeper behind the Amberswood defence.

Amberswood going forward were even worse as Farnworth Social Circle's defence were in total control, stopping Amberswood getting any kind of shot on goal at all. Amberswood were forced into an early substitution after Adam Corfield clashed with a defender coming off worse and struggled to shake off a back injury and being replaced by Paul Stringer.

At half time, Amberswood manager Phil Atherton encouraged his strikers to get some shots in at goal as the first goal would win this game because of the lack of efforts troubling either goalkeeper, and Amberswood went out the second half with a totally different attitude. John Warburton instilled confidence in the team, the defence seemed more comfortable, midfielders pressed everything and centre forwards chased down everything, and with all this it was Amberswoods top scorer Antony Whitton who broke the deadlock after Rick Surples put a long through ball in his path and Antony Whitton lifted the ball over the advancing goalkeeper and into the net.

With about twenty minutes to go Amberswood were forced into another substitution as the supplier of the first goal had ran himself into the ground in centre midfield and was replaced by Chris Hions, who continued where Rick Surples had left off with the partner of workhorse efforts of Shane Clark.

With only fifteen minutes left, Amberswood manager Phil Atherton made another substitution to tighten up the game and defend the one goal lead by playing a four, five, one formation, with none stop running centre forward Dean Tomlinson being replaced by winger Dean Scouler and Paul Stringer moved to centre midfield to help Shane Clark and Chris Hions, but as it turned out, it seemed more like an attacking substitution as Amberswood had more and more opportunities and it was top scorer Antony Whitton who finally put the nail in Farnworth Social Circles coffin, as he scored a second goal with about eight minutes remaining, after a hopeful long throw from William Hoey over the top of the defence, which Antony Whitton raced onto and took the ball away from the keeper, who chased him wide, Whitton created a yard of space for himself and fired the ball over the keeper and into the top far corner of the net.

Before the end of the game, goalkeeper Danny Hilton was also involved in the action and pulled off one of the most amazing one handed saves this league has ever seen, as a Farnworth Social Circle striker, headed the ball down, away from the keeper and towards the bottom corner of the net, goalkeeper Danny Hilton dived down one handed and flicked the ball over the crossbar to preserve Amberswoods clean sheet.

Final Score: Farnworth Social Circle 0 Amberswood 2 Looked like it might turn out to be a nil nil draw if it wasn't for Antony Whitton.

Man Of The Match: Antony Whitton for his brace of goals and turning a draw into a win.