Pitchero

FC United of Manchester

Stamford

T Greaves (18'), C Lindfield (31'), S Payne (63')

Full time

R Robbins (6')

Sat 18 Apr 15:00 - The Evo-Stik League Northern Premier - Premier Division Attendance 2,899

Report

Highlights

Selection

League round up

FC United Take Step Closer To Title

By Richard Curtis

Stamford made the trip to Manchester to play league leaders on Saturday looking for valuable points in their bid to escape relegation.

The match was played at Stalybridge Celtic Bower Fold ground as their usual home at Curzon Ashton was unavailable.

Stamford started brightly and shocked the home faithful by taking the lead after just six minutes. Nathan Fox passed the balled to Jon Challinor who turned his man to cross the ball where Ryan Robbins beat the defender and goalkeeper to the ball to poke home from six yards out.

After a quarter an hour, the Daniels were forced into a change at an innocuous challenge left defender Tom Batchelor with a facial injury. He was given treatment on the pitch from physio Steve Rands but he could not stop the bleeding from the wound. He was replaced by Gareth Jelleyman.

As the Daniels were re-organising, the home side equalised. The ball came loose to Tom Greaves and despite appeals for off-side he slotted the ball past Andy Stevens in the Daniels goal.

The home side had a period of possession as they looked to gain the necessary points to push them onto the league title.

Just after the half hour, the home side took the lead. A long ball down field was mis-controlled by Lewis Carr. The ball fell to Greg Daniels who ran with the ball across the box. He passed the ball to Craig Lindfield and he took a couple of touches before curling the ball past Stevens into the far corner.

Stamford looked for a way back into the game and Robbins had a shot on goal but his effort was tame. Andy Stevens was also called into action to save from Rory Fallon.

The Daniels were awarded a free-kick after Robbins was pulled back after attacking down the left, from the resultant kick, Lewis Carr had an effort but it was straight at keeper Dave Carnell.

In the second half, Stamford continued to look for openings and Ryan Robbins created one when he surprised the keeper by shooting from distance and Carnell was forced to save the ball with his legs.

As with so many games this season, just when Stamford are looking to get back in the game they concede.

Another long ball down field and it was met by Lewis Carr but his header went backwards and left the rest of the Daniels defence out of position and Shelton Payne ran on to score.

By now FC United were in full flow and the crowd of nearly 2900 supporters were enjoying the afternoon at the sun drenched ground.

The home side had further chances to score when a shot from the edge of the box caught Stevens out of position but he recovered well to tip over the bar.

They also had another blocked on the line by Dan Lawlor and the resultant loose ball was saved by Stevens.

Stamford: Andy Stevens, Lewis Carr, Nathan Fox, Ryan Clarke (Courtney Meade), Richard Jones (c), Tom Batchelor (Gareth Jelleyman), Jon Challinor, Tom Mcgowan (Dan Lawlor), Dan Clements, Jordan Smith, Ryan Robbins. Subs not used: Dalton Bettles, David Staff.