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AFC Liverpool v Darwen Saturday 9 August 2008

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29/3/2008 VODKAT LEAGUE DIVISION 2 NORTON UNITED 2 DARWEN 3

Player-Manager Dennis Hill made more changes to the Darwen line-up as he continued to shape a squad for next season. Players making their debut were Calum Heneghan in goal, Sam Fairhurst, Paul Lynch, and making a return to the club, Matt Woods.

Early in the game, Darwen captain Matt Anderton tested Goodwin in goal with a thirty five yard drive, which whistled by the post. After half an hour, Dean Clarke beat the Norton offside and attempted a lob over Goodwin. The keeper made a great leap to fist the ball away for a corner.

Two minutes later Dunn broke clear at the other end, but screwed the ball wide with only the keeper to beat.

On thirty five minutes, Louis Wilkes beat two Norton defenders to slide the ball through to Dean Clarke. His swift turn and shot was smartly saved by Goodwin.

The home side went ahead with five minutes of the first half to go, as a run down the left wing by Dunn, and low cross into the Darwen box ended up at the feet of Allen, who netted from five yards.

A thirty yard drive by Dale Bullen forced Goodwin into another good save, and Calum Heneghan had to save a strike from Allen with his knees.

Half Time: Norton United 1 Darwen 0

Five minutes into the second half saw some good inter passing by Dunn and Hughes and ended with a Hughes chip just clearing the Darwen cross-bar.

The Salmoners then started to dominate the play by creating some good passing movements, and ten minutes later levelled the scores. Dale Bullen received a ball down the left wing and raced towards the Norton Box. As Goodwin came out to narrow the angle, Bullen chipped the keeper and the ball floated just under the bar and into the net.

The visitors took the lead five minutes later. As Norton pushed out a Darwen attack, the ball struck a player and rebounded to Dean Clarke, with Goodwin having to make a point blank save from his shot. However, the home side failed to clear the resulting corner, and Matt Woods was on hand to smash the ball into the net from five yards out.

Norton went close to equalising half an hour in, when Allen put a twenty five yard free kick over the wall, but just the wrong side of the post, with the Darwen keeper stranded.

With ten minutes of the match remaining, the Salmoners increased their lead. A right to left cross field ball found Dale Bullen in space, and he again chipped the outrushing Goodwin to put the ball into the top right hand corner of the net.

The home side stepped up the pressure in the last few minutes and were rewarded for their efforts as Allen powered a header into the net from a Williams cross.

Full Time: Norton United 2 Darwen 3

REFEREE: M Green
ASSISTANTS: J Gardner, P Dean

ATTENDANCE: 38

GOALS:
Norton United: Allen (41, 85)
Darwen: Bullen (59, 83), Woods (64)

MAN OF THE MATCH:
Norton United: James Dunn
Darwen: Dale Bullen

TEAMS:

Norton United
1. Gary Goodwin
2. Tom Winkle
3. Liam Rigby
4. Jonathan Jackson
5. Paul Johnson
6. Ricky Goddard
7. Danny Hughes
8. Mark McDonald
9. Steve Allen
10. James Dunn
11. Karl Williams
12. Wayne Teague (replaced Jackson, 68 minutes)
14. Jon Barrass (replaced Johnson, 83 minutes)
15. David Davies
16. Dean Smith (replaced Williams, 68 minutes)

Darwen
1. Calum Heneghan
2. Oliver Telford
3. Paul Walker
4. Paul Lynch
5. Matt Anderton (Capt.)
6. Matt Woods
7. Sam Fairhurst
8. Liam Denning
9. Dean Clarke
10. Louis Wilkes
11. Dale Bullen
12. Sam Holt (replaced Wilkes, 74 minutes)
14. Mark Hine
15. Matt Haworth (replaced Fairhurst, 85 minutes)
16. Dennis Hill

Interview with Dennis Hill:

You’ve brought in some more new players today?
Yes. A few more players making their debut, and they made a difference. I’m building for next season, but these lads have come in now and said that they’d help me out.

Matt Woods has played for Darwen in the past and has partnered Matt Anderton before?
Yes, and we looked solid at the back today. I’m trying to build from the back, get the keeper and the back four sorted, then the midfield, followed by the centre forwards. I was quite happy with our play today.

What about the game?
I thought we had a lot of possession the first half, but needed to get the ball into the box more. I said to the lads at half time that we were playing too much passing. It was nice to watch but wasn’t getting us anywhere and didn’t cause them any problems. The second half was completely different, where we combined passing and direct play. In the last twenty minutes I thought the legs might go, as some of my team hadn’t played for six or seven weeks before, but they carried on giving me 100%, and I can’t ask for anything more than that.
I didn’t expect a win here, but in the end could have got four or five. They didn’t pose us many problems for most of the match. Calum in goal had very little to do first and second half. It was only when they scored late on, we started to get a bit nervous, and then they created some anxious moments for us.