Fleetwood Town FC 6 Leek Town FC 3

Tuesday October 2nd UniBond League Premier Division

Crowd 444

Goals: FTFC – Michael Brown, Kieran Walmsley, Jamie Milligan (pen), Alex Taylor 2, Steve Foster
LTFC: Dave Tickle 2, Oliver Edwards

Fleetwood Town capitalised on one of their two games in hand in spectacular fashion. For large periods of this action packed thriller, Fleetwood’s scintillating football was a joy to behold as their new 3-5-2 formation again paid rich dividends.  

Right-wing back Keiron Walmsley was the star of the show and it was his run and cross which led to Michael Brown putting the home side ahead after seven minutes with a well struck drive from the edge of the box. With a quarter of the game completed, Town doubled their lead when Jamie Milligan slotted in a penalty with his now customary nonchalance after Steve Foster had been fouled in the penalty area. The visitors had been second best throughout but on the half hour ex Manchester City junior, David Tickle, exploited a rare piece of defensive frailty to fire in a well taken goal. Undaunted, Fleetwood regrouped and after a goal-bound shot by Foster was deflected for a corner, the Highbury faithful were treated to one of the finest goals seen at Highbury in many years; Milligan’s pin point corner picking out the unmarked Walmsley who, with a strike reminiscent of a famous Paul Scholes goal against Bradford City several years ago, coolly volleyed the ball into the right hand corner of the net. 

Two minutes after the break, the impressive Alex Taylor ruthlessly punished an under-hit back pass to put Fleetwood 4-1 ahead. And Taylor was on the mark again after 55 minutes when he headed home a sublime cross by the outstanding Walmsley. Special mention too for a delightful pass by Nathan Pond which released Walmsley for the run and cross that Taylor duly converted for his fourth goal in two games.Manager Tony Greenwood understandably opted to rest some of his players and following the withdrawal of Phil Robinson, Martin Moran and Alex Taylor, Town lost some of their shape. Edwards scored for the visitors after 69 minutes, only for Foster to grab a deserved goal for his industry after another sparkling move down the left. In the dying minutes, Tickle scored his second of the game to put a rather flattering gloss on the score-line from the perspective of the visitors.

Walmsley was the man of the match, closely followed by Milligan and Taylor.

FTFC Team: Danny Hurst, Kieran Walmsley, Jez Fitzgerald, Martin Moran (Shaun Gray), Ricky Mercer, Phil Robinson (Ciaran Donnelly), Michael Brown (Ciaran Donnelly), Nathan Pond, Steve Foster, Alex Taylor (Mickey Saunders), Jamie Milligan