Vauxhall Motors 1-0 Litherland REMYCA
On Tuesday evening, a strong Litherland REMYCA team visited an out-of-form Vauxhall Motors at the vanEupen Arena. Remyca narrowly lost their last game on Saturday afternoon against Lower Breck, by 2 goals to 1. Whereas, the Motormen were dominated in the first away match of the league campaign, as we were beaten 5-0 by a solid Wythenshawe Town team.
The Motormen lined up with four changes from Saturday’s match at Wythenshawe, with Anthony Gardner returning following a short break from football, replacing Ethan Gouldbourne, and a changed front three with Saturday’s attacking force of Ben Holmes, Richie Foulkes and Kieran Knapper being replaced by Kyle Smyth, Joe Levey, and Michael Burkey.
A quiet start for both, but straight from the off, Motors winger Joe Brandon was beating his man on the wing and drawing fouls, along with playing the ball into dangerous areas in the box. With not much going on within the first 20 minutes, a chance for Remyca came up just after the 20 marks, forcing Dixon into a good save.
Just before half time, three great chances came in quick succession for the Motormen, with the first being from a corner and a Joe Heath header, which proved dangerous with his headed goal against AFC Liverpool, but a great save from the Remyca keeper kept the scores level. Right on half time, two efforts from Burkey and Levey force two saves from Litherland keeper, Ciaran O’Loughlin.
A half time score of 0-0, mainly thanks to the away side goalkeeper, the scores remained level following the first 45, in a massive game for McGraa’s side. Just three minutes after half time, a strong hand from Motors keeper, Mikey Dixon, kept the scores level. A bad challenge just after from Remyca number 10, Tom Hilditch, forced the referee to open the book for yellow cards for Hilditch and Haydn Cooper. Just one minute after, though, Hilditch once again came in with a rogue challenge on Anthony Gardner, which forced the referee to open his book again and Remyca’s number 10 saw red.
A quiet remainder of the first half saw all three substitutions made for the Motormen, with Simon Thelwell replacing Greg Drummond, Ben Holmes replacing Kyle Smyth and Jack Kelly replacing Michael Burkey.
A huge final ten approached for McGraa’s side, with the Motormen piling on the pressure. In the 95th minute, the time came as the goalkeeper is come out and clear the ball which only reached as far as Joe Brandon, 20 yards out, who cut inside and finessed the ball into the top left corner to win VMFC the match.
You can find post-match thoughts from Manager, Mick McGraa, and Match Highlights from the tie on our YouTube channel – Vauxhall Motors FC.
