Sunday 18th November 2007 saw the Black and White Army head to Preston Sports Arena for a tough Premier League Game away to Greenlands FC. Greenlands are a very good footballing side and will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season so this was a massive game for Lostock. Taking 3 points was obviously the main objective and after battering Ingol Rangers the previous week the lads were surely on a high and brimming with confidence. Ex-Lostock Manager Andy “Cat” Pollitt, who’s now in charge of filling up some “high quality H20” for Greenlands, was blasting the texts out the night before this game so hopefully the lads would get 1 over on him.

AFC Lostock Hall started with debutant goalkeeper Alex Walsh in nets, Ben Yates at right back, Damien Dashti returning from injury at left back, with Luke Atherton and Ste Greenwood at centre half. Roddy was on the right, Chris Hornby on the left, Jamie Sanderson and Mark Edmeads in the middle of the midfield. John Sanderson was up front alongside Alex “Bombhead” Randell. Jake Baldwin and player Manager Russ Horsfield took their places on the bench.

Bridgett was still missing through his “annual December suspension” along with Will Yates who was now on crutches after a knee injury whilst playing 7 a side. Keeper Andy Moffatt has also had to suspend his Sunday football career due to work commitments. Louie was missing too after a messy night out ended with a fight with the bouncers causing him to obtain a poorly shoulder.

The game kicked off and Greenlands started the brighter of the 2 teams with Stu “Eli Dingle” Parry hitting the crossbar with a screaming shot from the edge of the box after just 10 seconds of play. Greenlands were looking like a force to be reckoned with and were knocking the ball about nicely. 5 minutes into the game and Greenlands got their just reward with Marcus Bray latching on to a defence splitting ball and finishing well. 0-1. The Lostock defence were all over the show with runners from the Greenlands midfield causing them all sorts of problems. Some of the Lostock fans said that it looked like Greeny, AFC’s skipper, was still in the Tardy! It went from bad to worse for AFC Lostock as they were caught napping again at the back, which allowed Ashley McManus to run through, go round Walshy and put Greenlands two up. 0-2. 10 minutes gone and Lostock needed to give their heads a wobble! Fortunately, going 2 goals behind gave Lostock a kick up the ar*e and they started to work harder to try and get themselves back into the game. The Lostock Faithful on the sidelines began to get behind their team by singing songs…. mainly about the oppositions “Waterboy” Cat.

Half time arrived and the management team of Tat and Tugs decided to change things by swapping Randell and Roddy. Roddy would now be up front with Randell on the right wing. It was mentioned during this break that Lostock had come back against many other teams this season, most significantly against Victoria in the cup, so they just had to dig deep and keep trying to get a goal back.

Lostock came out of the blocks on fire and were looking to hopefully get something out of this game. Through hard work and determination Lostock looked to have turned a corner. Eddie got hold of the ball in the middle of the park and passed it to John on the edge of the box. Jon then turned his man and shot. The Greenlands keeper managed to palm it back out but RODDY was following up like the natural potent striker we all know he is and as the ball fell to his feet he smashed home the rebound. 1-2. Not long after, a long-range effort from Eddie looked to be going straight in the bottom left hand corner only for the post to deny him and keep Lostock a goal behind. With Lostock looking the fitter of the 2 sides they began to press forward and keep possession in their opponents half. A ball over the top from Jamie Sanderson to brother John on the left hand side created a chance. John went past the full back and crossed it in. Luke Atherton managed to get on the end of it and steer the ball goalwards causing a goalmouth scramble. RODDY aka the “Stealth Assassin” was on call again as he forced the ball over the goal line with the mildest of touches. 2-2. Celebrations and a huge sigh of relief could be heard from the Lostock faithful on the sidelines. 15 minutes to go and Lostock were still attacking and pushing for a winner. Eddie played a ball in to John’s feet on the edge of the Greenlands box who then laid it off to Chris Hornby. Being the player Chris is and with the lovely left peg he has, BELLY decided to hit it first time with a screaming strike. The ball flew into the top right hand corner of the net and sparked a mass pitch invasion from the away side. Anyone for a postage stamp? 3-2.

The songs about Cat began once again with not many minutes left on the clock. A clash of heads late on left Jamie “Tardy Terrier” Sanderson with a bloody nose. Tugs decided to make a great managerial decision by bringing Jamie off and replacing him with fellow Player Manager Tat. The clock ticked down and the final whistle was heard. Lostock had beaten their old manager and showed great spirit to come back against a top footballing outfit. Lostock’s next fixture is away against the much-fancied Elton Vale Sports Club (Bury) in the Last 16 of the LFA Sunday Trophy. Getting to the Christmas break with only 1 loss will be a great achievement for the squad with the current injuries situation.

SCORERS:
Sean Roddy (57 mins)
Sean Roddy (68 mins)
Chris Hornby (75 mins)

MOM:
Jamie Sanderson