UNITED BLOWN OFF COURSE

Through the wind and the rain

UNITED BLOWN OF COURSE

Skelmersdale United's FA Trophy adventure hit the buffers as they were beaten by their hosts, the wind and the referee.
It didnt start well for United as the game originally scheduled as a home tie had to be switched to South Yorkshire due to the unavailability of Prescot's Volair Park and on the morning of the match both Dimi Christou and Reece McNally had to withdraw due to illness, added to Dave Moore who was away on work duty United were forced to hand debuts to 4 new recruits. James Webb make the starting XI, whilst Ish Banks, Lewis Keegan and Declan Daniels were on the bench.

With the fierce wind at their backs United dominated play in the first half, constantly pressurising the Frickley defence and it was no surprise when Kev Edgar opened the scoring in the 10th minute after some excellent wing play by Sean Yeldrem, but United's pressure failed to create enough chances to seriously test Wallace in the home goal, Edgar had a chance to add to the tally as the half drew to a close but his shot went wide

One goal was never going to be enough as the winds strengthened, United having trouble getting the ball from their own half. Frickley capitalized and from a high ball in the 63 minute United failed to clear their lines withWilkinson drilling in from the edge of the box.

Frickley were now on the ascendancy and pumped balls high into the box where Phil Watt headed into the United net on 75 minutes. If United thought their day couldnt get any worse the referee who had a poor game produced a plethora of Yellow cards, Charlie Duke the recipient of two saw him dismissed for what was just two tackles.
United were still trying to pull the strings in the latter stages Griffiths and Dunne had been working hard all day and two efforts from debutant Declan Daniels failed to find the target but from another high ball into the box Jameel Ible headed a third on 83 mins he could have made it four as the bar came to United's rescue.
In the final minutes Jack Fleming saw yellow after being stamped on under the nose of the linesman, cementing the ineptitude of the officials
It was a poor day at the office for United and they will have to improve performances if they want to get away from the bottom end of the table.

Skelmersdale United - Smith, Duke, Fleming, Mooney, Webb, Molyneux, Griffiths, Dunne, Edgar, Duffy, Yeldrem, Subs Daniels (for Duffy), Banks, Keegan, McCormick, Boden.
Frickley Ath - Wallace, Carrick, Algar, McGuire, Ible, Rowe, Walton, Williams, Palmer, Burton, Hazel, Subs Watt, Wilkinson, Szanto, Hinds, Stannicliffe