1 | Andy Bell nicks the ball from the keeper to score the second.
2 | The legendary Brian Pritchard (#4). A lot of strikers will be pleased
     to see the back of him.
3 | Jamie Milligan celebrates the third.
4 | Pie smuggling used to be a hanging offence.
5 | The pies await the arrival of the main party.

Fleetwood Town required nothing short of three away points from this table top encounter to keep a realistic push on leaders Witton Albion.  The home side had a great opportunity to further increase their 11 point lead and force the visitors into a very difficult end of season run-in.  Balancing Fleetwood’s recent form - 13 out of 15 points and four clean sheets - against Witton’s sound home record, any neutral would have expected a hard fought draw, if not a home win. Tony Greenwood clearly had different plans for his Fleetwood side. 

Town, starting in their all blue away colours, took the game straight to Witton with Kieran Walmsley and Andy Bell each testing home keeper Jon Kennedy in the opening few minutes. The Albion defence was cracked open on 10 minutes when Walmsley made the most of a defensive mix-up to open the scoring with a superb shot past Kennedy.  Witton did press forward on occasion, but Danny Hurst also made it clear he wanted to collect his fifth clean sheet in a row.  Liam Brownhill came forward on 21 minutes only to see his long range shot collected by Hurst.  Phil Denney and Bell pushed forward immediately. Bell found himself in a good position and set up Denney. The effort was spilled by Kennedy and went wide. Jerome Watt and Nathan Pond linked up on the half hour mark, but Pond’s touch just wasn’t enough and was a signal for the snow to start.  Kennedy initially blocked a Jamie Milligan punt from outside the box on 34 minutes only for the ball to land at Andy Bell’s feet and he made it 2-0 (below). The defence were solid, with Nathan Pond making an excellent tackle inside the Fleetwood box on Adam Warlow to break up one of the few attacking threats by Witton in the first half.

Fleetwood continued their dominance as the second half progressed.  Andy Bell was just off target with a curling shot shortly after the restart following an attacking throw from Jez Fitzgerald on the left.  Watt and Denney then had a promising move spoilt by the Witton offside trap.  Around the mid-point Pond found his name going into the book of referee Andy Hutchinson, who was the fourth official at Blackpool’s delayed kick-off at Stoke City last Saturday. Milligan cemented a solid performance on 76 minutes when he took hold of Bell's short corner to send the ball dipping into the far corner.  Witton were lucky not to concede any further.

Sponsor’s man of the match Shaun Beeley had the miss of the afternoon and Milligan was unlucky with a low header. Substitute Lenny Reid managed a goal-line clearance to deny one of the small number of Witton attempts. Jez Fitzgerald continued to use his experience at the back and enjoyed another quality performance. The leagues biggest crowd of the season so far - 1,014 - included around 300 traveling Fleetwood supporters, including 40 youngsters and adults who made their way to Cheshire on a coach organised by Town’s Community Development Officer, Chris Garrett.  The Young Cod Army was allocated seating in the family enclosure of the main stand, away from the segregated away support. 'They sang their hearts out all the way through the match and really enjoyed their day-out', said Garrett after the match.  The Town players went to the away end at the final whistle and showed their appreciation of the vocal support. Witton officials later praised the behavior of the Fleetwood supporters.

The Fleetwood camp remains firmly focused on one game at a time, but statistics show Town have three games in hand and the chance to significantly reduce the gap on the leaders. After Saturday’s games at home to lowly Lincoln United, Witton have an enforced two-week fixture break. This will present Fleetwood with a good opportunity to reduce the current 8-point deficit by playing their three outstanding games.

Witton Flunk Biggest Test

WITTON were outclassed by the title rivals on Monday. Before the biggest UniBond League gate of the season they turned in their worst performance of the campaign. They have time left and a big enough points advantage to erase the memory, but what a chance they missed. Victory would have made Fleetwood’s season long chase all but over. A draw would have done nicely. But they did not stand up to their robust visitors and were not sharp enough all round. Their moves were in slow motion and easily rebuffed, if they did fall apart of their own accord. With Rod Thornley on international physio duty, manager Jim Vince opted for an unfamiliar five-man midfield. They did not look comfortable with the plan, which manager Jim Vince acknowledged by switching Steve Brodie to play alongside Adam Warlow. By then the damage was done. Fleetwood were quicker to every 50-50 ball and too many Albion passes rated no better than that. They were alert. In footballer’s parlance, they were up for it.

Witton seemed to have the attitude that all would come good because it always has before. They paid for it dearly. In the 10th minute Kieran Walmsley cut in off the right, benefited from Brian Pritchard’s lapse in concentration and belted a bottom corner beauty. Albion offered nothing in response and when Jon Kennedy fumbled Jamie Milligan’s long ranger and was not quick enough in his recovery Andy Bell pounced for the second goal, in the 35th minute.

Kevin Rapley replaced Dave MacPherson at half-time and Witton’s midfield was weakened without much being added to the attack. They might have got back into contention in the 68th minute when Mark Peers’ free kick looked locked on the top corner of the net only veer away at the last second. Otherwise Fleetwood kept things tight and waited. Phil Denney brought a good save from Kennedy, but the goalkeeper and defenders were all bypassed by Milligan’s 77th minute effort and he was credited with the goal, though the last touch was from Alex Brown’s despairing header on the line. Walmsley cracked a 25 yarder against a post, with Peers close to a consolation with a rasping shot that Danny Hurst turned over the bar. Albion now have eight point lead, but Fleetwood have three games in hand.

With a big crowd expected, the fans were segregated, with the Cod Army denied access to the bar. This displeased them and, in a show of solidarity, decided if they couldn't buy beer they wouldn't buy beer. So they brought their own! The game also saw the return of Ricky Mercer, back from a broken collar bone in just over six weeks.
 

The Premier Division title race was blown wide open on Easter Monday when FLEETWOOD TOWN kept their fifth successive clean sheet and destroyed WITTON ALBION’s unbeaten home league record with a 3-0 success that leaves them eight points behind Albion but with three games in hand. Albion, however, do have four of their last five fixtures at home whilst Fleetwood have four at home and four away. GATESHEAD moved in to third after two 3-0 victories over the holiday weekend whilst BUXTON took fourth despite losing 3-0 at MATLOCK TOWN on Good Friday before recovering to win at home to ASHTON UNITED on Monday. Seven points from three games over the holidays moved GUISELEY into the final play-off spot with the previous week’s third placed club EASTWOOD TOWN down to sixth after losing 4-0 at the in form ILKESTON TOWN on Good Friday. Ilkeston have now taken thirteen points from their last five games to ease what were very real relegation worries. Things are as interesting as ever at the bottom with WHITBY TOWN’s first win in six games lifting them out of the relegation places at the expense of their victims NORTH FERRIBY UNITED. Although the bottom two LINCOLN UNITED and LEEK TOWN both lost on Monday they had picked up points earlier in the weekend to keep up their hopes of avoiding the drop. KENDAL TOWN did their chances of survival no harm at all with an astonishing 6-0 thrashing of MARINE and STAMFORD will have been grateful for two draws to keep them just ahead of the dog-fight immediately behind them.
 

FleetwoodTownFC.com || Match Archives 07/08