Lostock turned up to play Victoria this morning knowing Vic were a side they always struggle against. Lostock were in great spirits after a very successful sportsman’s dinner on the Friday night even if Bazooka couldn’t remember where the auction items were or how much we’d raised! Tugs had fired out his weekly FREE texts allowance to warn the players to turn up on time and be focussed on getting another 3 points as the race for the title started to heat up.

Lostock lined up back in the normal 4-4-2 formation. Ross Melling made his full debut in nets, a back four consisting of Dashti on the left, Greeny and Bridgett at centre half and Dan Mac slotting in at Right BACK. The midfield four lined up with John on the Left, Jamie and Alex in the middle and Ben on the right and the dangerous pairing of Roddy and Steady continued up front. Taking their places on the bench were Walshy, new signing and fans favourite Kev Nutter(who’d taken time out from playing COD4 on Xbox Live) and Will Yates who return from a long term knee injury and I speak for everyone when I say its great to see the “Animal” back kicking a ball. Missing today due firstly to injury was Belly and secondly Luke Atherton who was missing due to work commitments in Moscow.

The game kicked off with Lostock taking control on a heavy pitch shooting into a very strong wind. Despite the difficult conditions the lads started well with Ben Yates and Steady forcing great saves from the impressive Vic keeper Sam Bolton. Lostock continued to pile on the pressure, knocking the ball around well against a strong and physical Vic team and thought they’d taken the lead through Jamie Sanderson. A lovely cross from John on the left was met with a glancing header from Jamie and as the ball trickled into the net Steady tried but failed to get the last touch. The Linesman deemed him to be interfering with someone and also play so the goal was therefore not given. A harsh decision considering he didn’t get a touch but it wasn’t long before he made up for it by putting Lostock into the lead. A deep cross from the right caused confusion in the Vic defence and as the ball broke kindly for STEADY, he made no mistake from 8 yards as he calmly slotted the ball home. 0-1. The game continued in the same vain with Lostock making all the running against a struggling Vic team who caused the Lostock rearguard no problems at all. The second goal was scored again by Steady after great work by Sean Roddy down the left. Roddy gave the two Vic defenders twisted blood as he turned them inside out and despite their best efforts to clean him out, he got to the byline, squared to STEADY who slotted it through the keeper’s legs. 0-2. With Lostock in complete control and the minutes ticking down till half time a stupid free kick was given away just inside the Lostock half. A long high ball into the box caused Bridgett to try and head the ball clear only for it to fall kindly to the Vic striker who sent a looping header into the net giving Melling no chance. 1-2. Shortly after the ref blew for half time much to the frustration of the Lostock management and fans.

During the half time break Tat and Tugs encourage the teams good play but reminded them to keep their concentration at the back. John withdrew threw a back injury and was replaced with the animal Will Yates, who looked like he’d piled on a few pounds whilst away with injury. I don’t think there was any spare turkey left in the Yates household on Boxing Day. With Will taking his place up front it meant that the impressive Roddy moved out to the left flank.

The second half continued much in the same vain as the first with Lostock in complete control and playing some good neat passing football and a free flowing move down the left ended with Jamie slicing a volley when only 6 yards out. If only Jimmy Grimble had brought his “magic boots”. Despite the constant pressure Lostock were finding it hard to break through the stubborn Vic defence and were restricted to long range shooting. This was food and drink to the Vic keeper until the Iranian devil DASHTI hit an unstoppable 35 yard thunderbolt that flew into the top right hand corner putting the game to bed. 1-3. With Bridgett still carrying injuries from previous weeks he was forced to withdraw making way for Kev Nutter to make his 16TH Lostock debut after last leaving the club 18 months ago due to problems with the previous management. Kev came on at right back with Dan moving into centre half. With the score at 3-1 Lostock were happy to just see out the game keeping possession tidily creating a few more half chances which they were unfortunate not to take. The ref blew for full time much to the relief of the Vic manager Frank ‘Gallagher’ Halliwell and another well deserved 3 points in the bag for the black and white army.

A much improved performance from the team this week especially with several players missing and a few players being asked to play out of position. A solid full debut for Ross in nets, great to see Will Yates back in the team and also the return to the club of Kev Nutter. Lostock were handed a further boost after the game when news came through that title challengers Greenlands and Acregate had both dropped points today. Man of the Match could have been given to a number of players today but fairs fair with top scorer John Stead taking the honours. The lad is prolific at the moment and hopefully he can fire us to glory….league and cup!

Ps. Cheers Cat, we all knew Lostock was always in your heart!

SCORERS:

John Stead (18 mins)
John Stead (27 mins)
Damian Dashti (64 mins)

MOM:
John Stead