The home of Stockport County was the setting for United on saturday, and another big turnout by the Red Army. The fans packed into the Robinsons brewery stand and observed a minutes silence for George Best which quickly turned into applause and songs for the great man.
Cheadle started the game well most likely not wanting a repeat of the teams prvevious meeting, 5-1 to FC in the cup. On 9 minutes United fell behind to a close range finish by Lindon. United 1-0 down early on just like on wednesday, the chants of "You'll wish you never scored" rang around the ground. Within 35 minutes played the chants were proved right as a fantastic free kick by Torpey that hit the post and went in made it 1-1. Followed by Carden continuing his great run of goals with a close range effort tucked away nicely. A good turnaround by United and they went into the break leading 2-1.
Cheadle came out for second half looking to get on level terms again, they did better than that, 60 minutes gone and goals by Brain on 55 and Martin on 60 turned the match on its head again as Cheadle led 3-2. United shocked tried to get level again with Torpey weaving his way through Cheadles defence, but they were holding firm. With 20 minutes to go Patterson came off the bench and gave Cheadles defence a torrid time but all to no avail. It was looking like FC were on their way to their second defeat in the league, but for one last effort. Some continous United pressure told when a clever cross by Dave Brown was met at the far post by captain marvel Dave Chadwick who duly nodded home sending the fans behind the net mental. Virtually the last action of the game and Chadwick's second goal in two games had salvaged a point for Margy's boys. The gap at the top of the league remains at 9 points as rivals Winsford and Padiham also fought out a 3-3 draw.
A cold wednesday night was the setting for FC's first game in almost a month, and the fans were well up for it. Before kick off a minutes noise was observed in memory of board member Russ Delaney, a poignent moment as the Red Army chanted his name. With out him the great club that FC has become wouldn't exist.
The match itself kicked off with a bit of a shock, as New Mills capitalised on some bad United defending which resulted in Radford slotting home a cross from the right from close range. 1-0 to New Mills after 1 minute, United didn't mess about in trying to get level, with the inspirational Steve Torpey gliding past defenders with ease. Eventually Torpey's pressure down the left paid of, and on 27 minutes as Torpey broke into the box and played a ball across the goal where Dave Chadwick was on hand to pick up his first goal for the club. New Mills looked rattled, maybe by the mass celebration behind them in the MRE. United's attack built up to another great run by Torpey which he played across goal where Carden slid in to knock home a difficult chance, sending the MRE into a sea of scarf twirling. Two minutes later Carden was on the mark again as he lobbed New Mills keeper in style. 3-1 to FC at half time in what was a great come back. Carden was on his hatrick and within 8 minutes of the restart he'd got it, with a close range finish which half the ground thought the ref had blown for offside or a foul. It wasn't long before Orr was in on the act now he had some competition from Carden for seasons top scorer, 62 minutes saw him make the most of a great through ball with a nicely placed finish. Just when New Mills thought that might of been it for the night on runs Patterson from the bench to terrorise the defence for the last 25 minutes. On 78 minutes a ball was played into Patterson, with his back to goal he pulled off a fantastic turn to leave himself one on one with the keeper where he cooly slotted it into the corner. That was the best of Patterson, then we saw a miss of the year, after beating two players then the keeper, Patterson was left with an easy finish, only for him to hit it over the bar instead of just tucking it away. The final whistle was met by an ecstatic MRE proud of the best performance United had put in for a while.
The little Lancashire town of Darwen played host to FC this weekend, many of the locals bewildered by the Red Army streaming in to the town as the afternoon rolled towards 3pm. The reds hoping to try and put their cup exit behind them and put another three points on the board. Marginson made a quite a few changes to the lineup with David Brown and William Aherne making their first starts in midfield and Rob Nugent returning at the back.
In a pretty even start to the game Darwen gave as good as they got and manged to force George into a couple of saves whilst United had a few half chances falling to Torpey. The deadloack was broken on 22 minutes a ball not cleared properly ended up at Browns feet on the bounce just inside area, he volleyed it hard and low into the keepers bottom right corner. First goal for the club by Brown and on his first start. After that goal United didn't really create too many other chances with Torpey having alot of the ball and Aherne's work rate second to non as he closed down the Darwen players. 1-0 to the reds at half time, even though maybe the scores deserved to be level.
The second half kicked off with Darwen continuing to frustrate United whenever they got an attack going as they broke up the play well. On 58 minutes Darwen levelled, a shot straight at George which he really shouldve held came back to Zarc who slotted under George to make it 1-1. United tryed to get the lead back straight away as the travelling support spurred them on with their non stop chants. One of which was for Adie Orr, who eventually was brought on, he seemed to be what the Reds were missing. The Darwen defence now struggle with the pace of both Torpey and Orr running at them, thus opening more holes up. United took advantage of this on 76 minutes when Torpey beat his marker on the right, drove forward into the box, crossed along the face of goal for Carden to knock home and make it 2-1. The fans behind the goal were going mental, as it looked as though United were gonna take the spoils. The last ten minutes or so were quite a nervy affair as Darwen pressed hard for an equaliser gaining quie a few corners and troubling George on a few occasions. United manged to hold out though and took away the 3 points to leave them 6 points clear at the top of the pile.
JOSH Howard has had a blast from Fergie's hairdryer - now he knows what it's like to go through Margy's mangle!
The former Manchester United youth team captain made his debut for FC United as they lost 2-1 in the League Challenge Cup to an injury-time goal against first division Colne.
And he found out that FC boss Karl Marginson can be as angry as the man from Govan when he sees his team lose.
"He wasn't happy," said Howard. "Perhaps he was a bit more constructive than Fergie, but he was not impressed with the way we defended."
The 25-year-old midfielder captained the Old Trafford youth team that included John O'Shea, Luke Chadwick and Michael Stewart, but fell foul of Fergie's wrath after he signed up with the United boss's least favourite agent Mel Stein.
Howard was singled out by Marginson as one of the few plus points on a disappointing afternoon for FC United and their amazing support - over 2,700 smashed the stadium record at Conference side Accrington Stanley's Interlink Express Stadium. But he will be missing for two weeks now, banned for a red card he picked up while with Mossley.
Marginson threatened his defenders with a shake-up after a game which ended in grand style with three goals in the last three minutes, followed by a touchline melee in which FC United's Rory Patterson was sent off, despite already having been substituted, for throwing a punch.
Said Marginson: "My assistant Phil Power tried to retrieve the ball when it went out of play, and one of their players tried to kick the ball away. He booted the ball at Phil who pushed him and then three or four of them jumped in.
"It's not something I want to see at football, especially when we have a big crowd like this."
It was nip and tuck, with FC keeper Barrie George pulling off two incredible saves in the first-half.
The goals did not start to come until three minutes from the end when Chris Clarke was allowed time and space to pick his spot and curl a beauty into the far corner of the FC United net.
Torpey replied with 10 seconds of normal time left - he tried to jink his way through the heart of a determined Colne defence and when he was pulled back, picked himself up to smash the free-kick around the wall and into the bottom corner.
The delirious FC fans were silenced again 90 seconds into added time as their defence was caught napping by a long ball over the top and on-loan Altrincham player Gary Williams raced clear to crash the winner past George.
A muddy Stafford Rangers ground was the setting for the latest chapter in FC United's history. The game moved there due to Eccleshall being thought not big enough to occupy the red army. United kicked off the game with black arm bands on in respect for FC founder and board member Russ Delaney who sadly passed away this week.
The reds with a few fammiliar names missing namely Torpey, Nugent and Ormes, struggled to create against a much improved Eccleshall side since their 7-1 defeat at Gigg Lane.
With the muddy pitch not allowing for FC to get their attacks going, Eccleshall saw the best of the first half with a few headers going close and George being called into action an a few occasions.
The closest United came to the scoresheet in the first half was when Patterson manged to get behind Eccleshall's defence but only to fire into the side netting.
As half time approached United were right to feel hard done by as the referee missed a sure fire penalty decision as Adie Orr was hacked down when he broke into the box.
As it was 0-0 it remained going into the break, the second half saw United enjoy quite alot of possesion but really lacked that edge in the final third. Eccleshall defended stoutley and made efforts by Mitten and Carden easy for their keeper to handle.
Eccleshall's excellent defending almost paid of for them at the other end as a United attack was broken up leaving them clear on the counter, George blocked the resulting shot where the Eccleshall striker really should of put away the rebound. United tried and tried till the final whistle with sub Phil Power almost nicking the three points with a shot driven across goal that could of gone anywhere. But it wasn't to be and in what was a competitve match with a much improved Eccleshall side the spoils were shared.
