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FC United hit for four by Rushall Olympic

Rushall Olympic came to Gigg Lane with a well-executed plan of attack which served to give them the upper hand against a poor performing FC United side. Four goals without reply, including a double blow either side of half time, left the Reds with too big a deficit to overcome as they were outplayed across the whole park.

The United team sheet was identical to that of last week’s draw away at Ilkeston but for the return of Carlos Roca who came back into the side after a spell out with injury. The defence remained unfamiliar, and Lee Neville, Dean Stott and Jake Cottrell were again played out of their usual positions.

The Pics, coming into the game off the back off an FA Trophy victory at Droylsden, applied early pressure, forcing James Spencer to punch away an effort sent into the crowded area as far as Josh Craddock who lofted the ball onto the roof of the net.

Mike Norton then latched onto a good ball from Greg Daniels, and after managing to shrug off the attentions of Gavin Caines who’d tracked back with him, the forward went one on one with Chris Gemmell however the keeper was first to reach the ball.

The Reds had arguably their best chance of the game as Daniels received the ball in a good position from a lovely flick on and carried it into the box, only to strike the effort on goal against the grounded Gemmell. The keeper appeared to trip Daniels as he tried to regain the loose ball, and the referee failed to spot this amongst the commotion in the now crowded box and the ball was cleared.

On 24 minutes, Dave Walker broke free down the left flank and with the United defence left behind, Walker squared from a tight angle across the face of goal for Hakeem Islam to slide in unmarked at the far post to put the ball away.

United were struggling to link up, being allowed very little time on the ball due to Rushall’s organised style of play, and with only a couple of minutes to go before the break, FC may have been hoping to keep the score line at just one at least until half time.

However, the Pics had other ideas, and spying the opportunity to double their advantage, Walker made it 2-0 at a crucial stage of the game. A through-ball split the United defence, and although looking to be offside, the flag stayed down, allowing Walker to knock the ball beyond the advancing Spencer.

A couple of half time changes altered the FC back four, as Matthew Tierney replaced Carr at the heart of the defence, whilst Neville was pushed back along the left line to resume his usual position at full-back, new boy Adam Dawson now ahead of him on the left wing.

The Reds had barely got going when Karl Marginson’s half time team talk was thrown into disarray. Walker and Islam combined as with the first goal, as the former once more beat the defence, and crossed for Islam to send home his second and Rushall’s third on 52 minutes.

In amongst the frustration and disappointment of the way in which the game was going, Dawson proved one of few highlights for the home side, working the left side well and providing a couple of good crosses from the dead ball line.

Just past the hour mark, the United management took the decision to strengthen upfront, replacing Nick Platt with new striker Tom Fisher, making his home debut, and going 4-4-2.

Marginson’s men had very little time to adjust to this new formation, because three minutes later, Islam gave United an even greater mountain to climb, as unchallenged, the striker finished from close range.

The Reds may have been relieved to see Walker taken off, but his replacement upfront almost also got in on the action; Ahmed Obeng, evading Neville, looked to test Spencer but Dave Birch got back superbly with a well-timed tackle to prevent the substitute striker from bagging Rushall’s fifth in the closing stages of the afternoon’s proceedings.

To the final whistle, despite having all three points comfortably sealed, the visitors continued to display much more urgency and determination than United as had been the case for the entire game.

Still never having scored against Rushall had become the least of FC United’s worries by the time the game drew to a close, this statistic being much overshadowed by the fact that the Pics had put four past FC in just one fixture.

It seems that a poor FC United display is something that has been reported all too often this season, so it must be hoped that the Reds can pick themselves up in time for the visit of Marine on Tuesday night.

Report by Victoria Fullen

Website Man of the Match: Adam Dawson – despite only having 45 minutes on the pitch, was a highlight of an otherwise forgettable afternoon.


First Posted ~ 21:43 Sun 18 Nov 2012
News ID ~ 4569
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021