FC United Of Manchester - The Soul Is One
Stunning fightback gives reds the win
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By Paul Edmundson

FCUoM 3 - 2 Ramsbottom

A Boxing Day thriller was watched by a crowd of 2,924 at Gigg Lane, who went away having had value for their entrance fee.
It took 72 minutes for United to get on the score sheet through captain Dave Chadwick, before teammate Alex Mortimer kept his head to hit home a penalty for the equaliser.
And, in a dramatic climax, midfielder Nicky Platt hit a dramatic winner with just two minutes left.

Without a win in four, United started the game with several changes made to the side that earned a point at Flixton on Saturday.
The impressive Liam Foster came in at right back for the injured Matty Taylor, while Josh Howard started out on the left and Danny Allen won back his place up front, with Rhodri Giggs returning from injury on the right.
Sam Ashton kept his place, as did Mortimer, Chadwick, Rob Nugent, Platt and Stuart Rudd.
It took eight minutes for the home side to create a scoring opportunity, with Giggs making space down the right before crossing it in for Allen who could only head over the bar.
Coming into the game with four straight wins, the visitors were determined to show they weren't coming to Gigg Lane just to sit back defend.
And on 11 minutes, hard-working midfielder Steven McDonald ran down the left wing and the ball broke to Rams striker Carl Lomax who finished well for 1-0.
McDonald almost extended the visitors' lead three minutes later when he closed in on the FC goal at the Manchester Road End and brought a fine save from Ashton, before blazing the rebound over the bar.
The blues again caught United on the break soon after, though forward Ryan Moore's effort was deflected for a corner.
At the other end, the reds had a flurry of corners, but were denied on four occasions in the first half by some dependable goalkeeping from Martin Campbell.
On 22 minutes, the Ramsbottom number one was back in action and saved well from a Rob Nugent header after a decent corner from the left.
There were chances for Platt and Giggs shortly afterwards before FC had their best chance of the half on 27 minutes when a goalmouth scramble somehow escaped the clutch of Rudd on the line to be cleared by the away side.
The chance revitalised the reds - and Rudd in particular - the strong forward hitting a brilliant acrobatic effort on 28 minutes missing narrowly, and having a header cleared off the line eight minutes before the break.
Ramsbottom held on and, in the first significant action of the second period, found themselves 2-0 ahead after an unfortunate defensive mix-up ended when Nugent hit the ball against Foster into the goal.
After the game, United boss Karl Marginson said he thought there was a definite offside in the build up to the goal, though his opposite number in the visitors' dugout said he did not see it.
The goal stood, however, and it was just five minutes later Marginson brought off Giggs for Dave Swarbrick and the disappointing Allen for Rory Patterson.
Both introductions had a dramatic effect on the play, with the reds getting their passing game going and Foster combining well with Swarbrick down the right wing particularly.
In fact, the Barrow-born winger could have scored with his first touch, firing a decent shot straight at Campbell.
Then from a right-sided corner, Chadwick climbed high to connect with his head, but the ball sailed over the bar.
But the hard-fighting captain Chadwick wasn't to be denied on 72 minutes, climbing high to connect with a Swarbrick corner, bringing United back into the game at 2-1.
Just two minutes later, Rudd had a header cleared off the line and the noise began to build from behind the goal as United pressed for an equaliser.
And they got it on 81 minutes, with the otherwise quiet Howard showing great awareness to pick out Patterson on the edge of the area.
With his back to goal, the Irishman beat his man, before being hacked down for a clear penalty.
And up stepped Mortimer, who finished emphatically into the bottom left-hand corner to bring the reds back on level terms at 2-2.
Rambottom continued to fight and had two corners in the dying minutes, but conceded their own corner kick with just three minutes remaining.
The ball broke to Platt on the right-hand corner of the box and the youngster hit the ball sweetly first time into the left-hand bottom corner, leaving Campbell rooted to the spot for 3-2.

 

 

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