Bullets Defeated Again

There was a huge sense of dejection and disappointment at Wood Park on Saturday afternoon when Alsager Town slumped to yet another defeat, this time against AFC Blackpool, a result that leaves them now stranded at the foot of the North West Counties League Premier Division table with only one point from their opening eight games. Losing five out of five at home, scoring a total of only six goals and conceding eighteen demonstrates that there is now a real concern that the Bullets are going to have a tough battle on their hands to retain their status in the division, although it must be said this was a match they should and ought to have won. Unfortunately, decent first-half performances won’t on their own win football matches and so it proved yet again. The Bullets have only trailed once at half-time in their eight league encounters, that being at AFC Liverpool in their opening fixture, so clearly there is a trend that needs addressing soon and quickly.
This match however, will stick long in the memory, as the home team laid siege to the AFC Blackpool goal throughout a totally one-sided opening forty-five minutes, but somehow had nothing to show for their efforts. Jordan Johnson, Harry Clayton, Jack Woolley, Josh Crofts and Jonathan Crane could all have got their names on the scoresheet, but a combination of good goalkeeping from Daniel McDonald and it must be said, some wasteful finishing meant that the score remained goalless at the interval. The second-half began in a similar vein with Johnson and Woolley both forcing McDonald into decent saves until proceedings took a dramatic turn when the Bullets were reduced to nine men, following the dismissals of Josh Crofts and then Tom Brown both for straight red cards. Crofts perhaps could consider himself somewhat unfortunate. AFC Blackpool right-back Jamie Nay kicked Crofts on the leg in a challenge for the ball, Crofts pushed Nay in retaliation with his hands and then sat on the turf, clearly injured. After a delay for treatment the referee dismissed Crofts, but surprisingly left Nay unpunished. Within five minutes AFC Blackpool’s Kurt Willoughby was booked for a late challenge on Alsager’s Tom Brown by the touchline in front of the dugouts, but moments later Brown was shown a red card for a late, ugly and reckless challenge on Willoughby in the same area of the pitch. There can be no question that Brown let down his team-mates and the club and made Alsager’s task more or less impossible, changing the face of the game. With their clear numerical advantage, AFC Blackpool started to press forward for virtually the first time in the match, and took the lead with five minutes left on the clock, when Willoughby scored. The nine men however pressed forward, and substitute Sean Reeves-Jones smashed the ball into the roof of the AFC Blackpool net from eight yards following a scramble in the penalty area as the game entered added time. With a draw being the very least they deserved, Bullets hearts were broken three minutes later, when a cross-cum-shot from the right touchline from AFC Blackpool’s Richard Sear went over goalkeeper Krystian Burzynski into the corner of the net.

Alsager Town: Burzynski, Crane, Brown, Chadwick, Dawson, Warren, Clayton (Main), Heler, Johnson (Reeves-Jones), Woolley (Southwell), Crofts.
Attendance: 67.

Ian Woodward.

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