| West Didsbury & Chorlton | 2-1 | Cammell Laird 1907 |
James Cottee (41)
Curtis Miller (79) | HT: 2-1
Att: 354 | Paul Jewell (90+1) |
| Starting XI | | Starting XI |
| Andrew Jones | 1 | Richard Cowderoy |
| Matthew Cook | 2 | Jake Hulley |
| Dontai Gabidon | 3 | Jack Lloyd |
| Joshua Tinker | 4 | Paul Jewell |
Sam Heathcote | 5 | Matthew Kewn |
| Christopher Middleton | 6 | Paul Bathgate |
| Curtis Miller | 7 | Michael Furlong |
| Lee Gavin | 8 | Colm Lynch |
| James Cottee | 9 | Benjamin Greenop |
| Matthew Boland | 10 | Luke Blondel |
| George Blackwell | 11 | Sam Mullally |
| Substitutes | | Substitutes |
Jack Ryan | S1 | Joshua Donnelly |
| Billy Matthews | S2 | Nicholas Lynch |
| Matthew Argent-Barnes | S3 | Tom Douglas |
| S4 | Lewis Clark |
| S5 | Jack Maybury |
West began their 2020 home campaign with a vital three points and a fine performance, although the visitors may have left the Step Places Stadium feeling like they should’ve had a share of the spoils.
A league-high crowd of 354 were in fine voice, even as the opening exchanges provided little to get excited about, with the most notable event of the opening half an hour being a scrambled effort finding the bar, as Chris Middleton failed to capitalise on some chaos in the box. The strong wind was maybe the biggest influence on the game, with West corners being blown out of play and – on one occasion – almost eluding everyone and curling straight in. However, it would be an aerial route that broke the deadlock, Curtis Miller finding space down the right before drilling it at head height across the face of goal. James Cottee was at hand to force the ball home, sending the shed end into raptures just before half time.
While some good football was played by both sides in the first period, the break seemed to sap any fluency from the tie. Middleton again made himself a nuisance, having an effort cleared off the line. Lee Gavin, always a dynamo in midfield, did his best to keep the game ticking over, while Gabidon and Cook offered width down either wing – but it was a through ball straight through the middle that gave Laird their best chance of the game. Racing through on goal after beating the offside trap, the away number 10 dragged wide of the far post with only Jones to beat.
With 15 minutes to go, the heavens opened – and essentially created an entirely different game, best analysed away from the rest of the performance. As the game became more stretch, Curtis Miller – a threat all game – carried the ball into the box, striking it high and true towards the back post, finding the roof of the net and giving the home support hope of a stress-free end to the game. As is usual at Brookburn Road, this wasn’t to be the case.
A mad minute saw captain Sam Heathcote earn two yellow cards – one for apparent dissent, one for a foul – and leave West with only 10 men for the last 5 minutes. Laird, sensing an opportunity and with nothing to lose, pushed forward. The pressure eventually told, with Paul Jewell – not that one – pulling one back for the visitors in the 90th minute following a scramble in the box. Making every use of the ample added time provided by the officials, West were on the back foot again almost straight from kick-off, Andrew Jones having to make a big save in yet another game of goalmouth pinball, before smothering the loose ball to keep all three points in Chorlton. Through near-torrential rain, the lads were clapped off, before the home support went home both happy and soggy.
Listen to our post-match podcast below
? Yesterday’s second goal, via miles.r.stacey on Instagram – what a hit, Curtis! pic.twitter.com/r03bbmKa2B
— West Didsbury & Chorlton AFC ️️ (@WD_CFC) January 12, 2020
