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  Farnworth Town 1 - Irlam FC 6
By Steve Nixon.
Game on ! at last - The young A team hadn't kicked a competitive ball since November 26th 2011! The fixture was originally to be played at Farnworth but after 2 tries it reverted to Silver Street. Again the weather put paid to that last week and waking up this morning to an icey covering it looked doubtful. Irlam called their ground unfit, with surface water on large parts of the pitch. Thankfully, it was early enough to be switched again & Farnworth declared their pitch playable. Irlam lined up with a 4-3-3 on a tight pitch. Conor Byrne at right back & Alex Barlow at left back gave the much needed width. After a cagey start with no real chances created, Irlam had plenty of possesion but looked a bit rusty in the opening 15 minutes. Farnworth dug in and packed the central midfield area, winning most of the loose balls. They broke down the left and what looked no real danger, the ball fell to the Farnworth number 10 who hit a superb half volley from the edge of the box, flying straight as a dart in to the top left corner. Farnworth 1-0 to the good! Patience was key and the lads kept on with their passing game and on several occasions just 1 pass short or just over hitting the through ball. Joe Icely looked lively with Jordy, Hughesy & Nicko bossing the midfield it looked as though the equaliser would come. Jacko made an excellent last ditch tackle just denying the Farnworth striker a certain goal. After approx half an hour Ben won a free kick 25 yards out towards the left hand side of the area. Nicko stepped up & struck a well taken shot, the ball clipped off the Farnworth wall, deflecting in to the far corner just beating the outstretched keeper. 1-1! Jordy was finding his passing range and Norky & Jacko didnt look in any trouble at the back as Farnworths loan striker wasn't getting much support. Half Time came with Irlam dominating possession without really having too many attempts on goal. HALF TIME Farnworth 1- Irlam 1. Farnworth started the second half the stronger & played some neat football in the opening 5 minutes, but didn't get beyond the Irlam defence. Raffa came on for the injured Jordy Smith & Mark Steele replaced Nicko, who had work to attend! What happened in the next 20 minutes was a one man show from Joe Icely. Joe scored a hat-trick in a spell binding 10 minutes with Cannis making it 2-1 and Ben adding the 6th with 10 minutes remaining. Joe scored all 3 from inside 6 yards. Rounding the keeper on 2 occasions. Joe laid on Cannis for a well taken header and Ben rounded off a Man of the Match performance (SORRY JOE BUT I THINK BENS UNCLE REFFED THE MATCH!) with a simple finish from 6 yards out. Farnworth had loss the fight and looked a forlorn outfit as the goals kept coming. Great result which sees the lads progress to the Manchester Amateur Cup 1/4 Final. Nice to see the travelling support! Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
