U18's slip to defeat at home to Accrington...
Fleetwood Town U18’s side slipped to a narrow 2-1 over the weekend at the hands of Accrington Stanley at Poolfoot Farm.
Despite the result, it was another encouraging performance from Nathan Rooney’s side despite leading until the last five minutes when Stanley scored twice late on to seal the victory.
Fleetwood dominated the early proceedings and deservedly took the lead in the 23rd minute. An early switch of play from left to right created space for Alex Dodd in the middle of the pitch, his scooped ball was met by Dan Mooney who converted to put the hosts ahead. A deft finish with the outside of his left foot chipped the opposing keeper leaving him stranded.
Fleetwood could have doubled their lead shortly after, again Dodd and Mooney combining to see the latter through on goal, on this occasion however Town were thwarted by the offside flag.
The second half began with the game losing its fluidity, in an attempt to combat this, Nathan Rooney introduced Jack Bishop into the game, replacing striker Connor Finlayson. This introduction was very nearly a master stroke from Rooney with Bishop finding himself racing through on goal, he calmly rounded the keeper only to see his strike bounce back off the post before being cleared by the recovering defenders.
This proved pivotal in the game, with Fleetwood conceding very quickly after this. Accrington won a throw-in deep into the Fleetwood half, a long throw was flicked on and eventually found its way into the goal following a mix up between goalkeeper and defenders.
A second goal for the visitors followed shortly after, in a very similar vein. Again, a long throw into the box was flicked on, Fleetwood attempted to clear but the clearance was deflected directly into the feet of an Accrington player who slotted home from 8 yards.
Stanley held on to seal a 2-1 victory.
A frustrated Rooney spoke after the game: “I thought we were the better side for the majority of the game, unfortunately in football these things happen and we didn’t get the luck we perhaps deserved today.
“We very nearly went 2-0 up and then they grab an equaliser 90 seconds after. We see the lads are hurting which we take as a positive, you can see how much they wanted it and unfortunately it didn’t happen today. We’ll continue to put the hard work in and anyone who watched the game can see how well we performed, particularly in the first half, it’s just obviously frustrating that we didn’t manage to see the game out today.”
FTFC: Crellin; Kerrigan, Holgate, Baines (c), Abubakar; Shorrock, Garner, Dodd; Finlayson (Bishop 54’), Collings, Mooney.
Unused Subs: Unsworth, Turner, Bridge