Ossett Town FC 0 Fleetwood Town FC 1

Saturday August 18th 2007 UniBond League Premier Division

Crowd 209

Goals: FTFC – Ciaran Donnelly

Fleetwood Town opened the new campaign with a vital, confidence boosting victory, thanks largely to a spectacular goal on debut by Ciaran Donnelly. Donnelly’s early strike raised the spectre of a goal glut but a host of missed chances mean that Town had to dig deep in the second half to achieve the win that their overall play had merited. The opening match last season had seen Town come away from Ossett with a 4-2 win and two suspensions for red card victims, Jamie Milligan and Stuart Beech. Eerily, 12 months to the day later, Milligan sat this game out due to a suspension carried over from last season when he was dismissed in the late season defeat at Burscough. Joining him on the sidelines were Nathan Pond and Ricky Mercer, both of whom received their marching orders on the last day of the campaign at Ashton United, and Steve Foster who was completing a ban from his time with AFC Telford. With Mickey Saunders and Paul Haddow on the injured list, defender Jonathan Smith failing a pre-match fitness test and key reserve team stalwart Jimmy Hone having left the club to work abroad, Fleetwood manager Tony Greenwood was denied the luxury of any major team selection headaches. In addition to ex Blackpool midfielder Donnelly, Greenwood handed a debut to ex Barrow full back Guy Heffernan. Town’s other close season recruits, Keiran Walmsley and Alex Taylor had to be content with places on the substitutes bench; Greenwood opting for a front line partnership of Andy Bell and Phil Denney and a central midfield duo of Donnelly and the versatile Phil Robinson.

Fleetwood made a dream start when, just 4 minutes into the new season, Donnelly volleyed the visitors into the lead. The gulf in class between the two sides was obvious but despite Fleetwood’s almost total domination, further goals remained elusive. Bell should have doubled Fleetwood’s advantage but after running on to a finely threaded pass by strike partner Denney and skilfully evading two challenges, last seasons leading goal-scorer placed a precise shot against a post instead of into the gaping net. Town again struck the woodwork on the half hour when Denney’s header from a Donnelly corner brushed the bar before rebounding to safety. Several slick moves were spoiled by an indifferent final ball; Michael Brown proving to be the main culprit with some un-typically erratic delivery on the right flank.

Little was seen of Ossett going forward in the first half as the visitors camped themselves in the home half. However, the second period of this clash was a different story and after Denney had wasted a glorious chance to make the game safe when he placed a tame shot wide from close range, Fleetwood were forced to hang on grimly for their first three points of the new campaign. Martin Moran was particularly influential as the Town defence repelled a plethora of attacking raids by the home side. Fleetwood’s most promising sorties forward invariably involved Richard Allen but two promising runs ended with the mercurial winger being dispossessed on the edge of the opposition penalty area. This really wasn’t Allen’s day; he had missed the coach to the game, therefore hitching a lift off Chairman Andy Pilley and, with shoulders slumped, made an early exit from the field of play after succumbing to injury. Goalkeeper Danny Hurst made two spectacular saves late on to deny the industrious hosts and the final whistle came as something of a relief to the travelling Cod Army.

All in all, though, this was a thoroughly deserved victory for Fleetwood. Moran was Fleetwood’s man of the match with a towering display at the back. Special mention too for Mr Versatility, Phil Robinson; the ex Blackpool defender delivering a magnificent, battle hardened performance in midfield as replacement for the suspended Nathan Pond. Bell and Denney were a constant threat up front; Donnelly proved an adequate replacement for Milligan, while fellow debutant Guy Heffernan was impressive at right back. Skipper Jerome Fitzgerald played on despite a painful thigh injury as did the courageous Denney who, post-match, reported that he’d attained an agonizing rib injury.

Fleetwood Town Team: Danny Hurst, Guy Heffernan, Jez Fitzgerald (C), Shaun Gray, Martin Moran, Ciaran Donnelly, Michael Brown, Phil Robinson, Andy Bell (Alex Taylor), Phil Denney, Richie Allen (Kieran Walmsley). Unused: Jonathan Smith

Ossett Town Team: Piotr Skiba, Robert Tonks, Lee Stratford, Andy Culshaw, James Cotterill (C), Andy McManus, Lee Pugh, Aiden Savory, Scott Jackson, Ben Jones, Rob O’Brien Substitutes: Phil Lindley, Richard Marchant, David Briggs

Officials: Matt McGrath (Referee), Paul Ballantyne and David Briggs