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Red reserves held by Colne

It may have been FA Trophy day in Ashton but the reserves had a visit from Colne to deal with. Goals from Dean Hope and Chris Hill either side of a Colne brace saw honours finish even in a 2-2 draw.

Traffic congestion due to an accident on the motorway meant that some of the Colne players were late arriving and were granted a quarter of an hour delay on kick off. Not that it worried FC United; a goal after just 64 seconds was their response. Charlie Doyle crossed from the right for Hope to fire in from the edge of the box.

Thoughts that such a start may be a taste of things to come were quickly dispelled as Colne sprang to life and were 2-1 up within little more than quarter of an hour. As early as the third minute, ex Reds’ reserve Jean Biansumba got beyond the home defence and brought a smart save from Ben Jupp. As it happened the linesman’s flag for offside meant it wouldn’t have counted. Five minutes later they were level. Lee Barrett was fouled in the penalty area and Brandon Barski sent Jupp the wrong way with his kick.

The visitor’s movement was causing problems for the home defence, so whilst there was a flurry of excitement as Leo Magnone’s long throw was hastily headed behind for a corner, as it was cleared via Daniel Russell, Biansumba was clear to fire in at the near post. Colne had three other good chances before the break, whilst the best hope of an equaliser came after half an hour. Frank van Gils was dreaming of a spectacular finish to another Doyle cross before being cleared for a corner. Leo Magnone had a couple of efforts without truly testing Stuart Cross in the visitors’ goal.

The reds tightened up at the back in the second half, indeed an early attack saw efforts from Magnone and Lee Green somehow repelled. That said there was little to show until the hour mark. Dean Hope was just wide and a Magnone drive required a finger tip save from Cross as the ball headed for the top corner. FC were level in the next attack. Green got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Hill to smash home. The Colne defence, Cross in particular, claimed it hit the head of an FC player in an offside position, but neither linesman nor referee had seen it and the goal stood.

Both sides were keen to score a third goal but neither succeeded. FC came closest when a 20-yard shot from Dean Hope struck the bar and bounced down but not in and Ryan Saxon was just wide when a diagonal pass from Magnone saw him close in on goal. Lee Barrett came close for Colne with a 30-yard effort but neither side succeeded and the game was drawn.

Next up is Curzon Ashton on Friday as the reserves take the chance to play away at the club’s temporary home, kick off at 7:45pm.

FC United of Manchester: 1. Ben Jupp 2. Charlie Doyle 3. Leo Magnone 4. Chris Hill 5. Natham Chorlton 6. Scott Cheetham 7. Ryan Saxon 8. Dean Hope 9. Frank van Gils 10. Keenan Tuck 11. Lee Green. Substitutes: 12. Josh Smethurst 14. Toby Wright (for 5, 63 mins) 15. Jordan Rutter (for 10, 68 mins) 16. Jason Fowles 17. Jacob Holt (for 11, 79 mins).

Colne: 1. Stuart Cross 2. Adam Stockdale 3. Louis Percival 4. Luke McVarish 5. Michael Woodvine 6. Richard Johnson 7. Daniel Russell 8. Mark Coyne 9. Brandon Barski 10. Lee Barrett 11. Jean Biansumba Substitutes 12. Samuel Charlesworth 13. Wayne Duxbury.



First Posted ~ 15:56 Sun 25 Jan 2015
News ID ~ 5970
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021