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Ten men FC United slump to defeat at Chorley

FC United slumped to their third defeat in four games on Tuesday night by losing 3-0 at Chorley as Jerome Wright was sent off for the second time in four days.

The performance was arguably the worst the Reds have put in for a few seasons, even when they had 11 players on the pitch.

Wright was dismissed for a second bookable offence nine minutes into the second half with Chorley leading 1-0 and the Reds fighting to get back into the game. The Magpies then pressed home the man advantage to win comfortably.

The match started in a slow fashion with neither side really looking to take a footing in the game. In the 11th minute, the home side took the lead when a good move between James Dean and Darren Stephenson saw the latter cross the ball to Josh Hine who side footed into the open goal.

Chorley were seeing quite a bit of the ball with FC United trying to hit them on the break. Summer signing Sean Cooke was seeing quite a bit of the ball but more often than not finding himself on the end of a foul.

The Reds did have a period of pressure on the Magpies’ goal just after the half hour mark. Cooke crossed the ball for Tom Greaves who headed just wide. On 39 minutes, Cooke saw a free-kick tipped over by goalkeeper Sam Ashton. From the resultant corner, Nia Bayunu saw a header well saved by Ashton. The second corner found Greaves who flicked the ball against the bar.

Five minutes into the second half, Ashton was called into action when a shot from Dave Birch stung his hands. On 54 minutes, the night took another turn for the worst when Wright was involved in a 50/50 challenge that saw him collide with an opposing player. A second yellow card was produced to Wright, meaning he had to go for an early shower for the second successive match.

On the hour mark, the lead was doubled when a long ball was played behind the FC United defence for Stephenson who raced onto the ball and finished into the far corner of the goal. The Reds still tried to find a way back into the game, Cooke placing a shot that Ashton did well to save.

With 15 minutes to go, substitute Marcus Carver was played in but he couldn’t find a finish and fired the ball over the bar. On 88 minutes, FC United’s misery was completed when Chorley broke away on the left through Lewis Guy, who drew Dave Carnell from the goal. Guy squared the rebound to Hine to tap in his second.

The 3-0 scoreline wasn’t overly flattering for Chorley as they were the better team in pretty much all departments, especially when they had a man advantage.

Website man of the match: Sean Cooke. On a night when there wasn’t a stand out performance, Cooke takes the award for a busy display that saw him produce a couple of good saves from the opposing keeper.

Report by Steven Wood


First Posted ~ 10:25 Wed 19 Aug 2015
News ID ~ 6330
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021