Main Page

Quick Links
    Fixtures
   Reports
   Players
   Transfers
   Rumours
   Table
   Stats
   Reserves
   Academy

The Rest
    Archives
   Club info
   Fanzines
   Last Season
   SJP
   Unlikely Lads
   A-Z Index

Liverpool	3 - 2	Newcastle United
Half time:	2 - 1
Score Sheet:
Miles (16) Biscan (33) Partridge (87)		Coppinger (34) McClen (66)
	Teams
Chris Kirkland Vegard Heggem Frode Kippe Paul Culshaw Stephen Wright Igor Biscan Ritchie Partridge John Welsh Neil Mellor John Miles Bernard Diomede		Carl Bell Ryan McGuffie Andy Griffin David Cowan S.Caldwell Brian Kerr Stuart Green Jamie McClen Colin McMenamin James Coppinger Mark Boyd
Substitutes:
Michael Foley for Biscan (62) Neil Prince for Mellor (73) Brian McIlroy for Miles (73)		Michael Chopra for McMenamin (57)
Subs not used:
Matthew Parry Stephen McNulty		Peter Ramage Tommy English Adam Sadler
Bookings:
none		none
Dismissals:
n/a		n/a
Referee: GH Simpson - never saw him, always a good sign.
Attendance:  635 - a lusty cheer when McClen levelled matters confirmed that a good number of North-West Mags were in the stand to cheer the toon on - as were members of the Griffin family, their boy Andy coming from just up the road.

16 mins Miles 1-0

33 mins Biscan 2-0 

34 mins Coppinger 2-1  

Half time: Liverpool Reserves 2 Newcastle Reserves 1

66 mins McClen 2-2

87 mins Partridge 3-2 

Full time: Liverpool Reserves 3 Newcastle Reserves 2

A deflated birthday boy Tommy Craig (51 today) commented:

"We played some of our best football of the season and I am still wondering how we lost."

"We really got a grip of the game after Jamie's goal and we played very well.

"We got an equaliser when Michael Chopra set up Jamie McClen for a well worked goal.

"At this stage there looked as though there was only going to be one winner and that was us.

"But right on the death Liverpool broke away and Ritchie Partridge poked in the winner for them.

"To tell the truth I would have been disappointed if we had played a 2-2 draw so you can tell how upset I am we lost.

"To be fair to Liverpool their coach Sammy Lee came across and said how well we played and how unlucky we were to lose.

"When the dust has settled we can look back on the fact we played some fine flowing football from our midfield of McClen, Stuart Green, Brian Kerr and Mark Boyd."

A late goal at a rain-drenched Haig Avenue denied Tommy Craig a 51st birthday present as his reserve side lost 3-2 to a strong Liverpool second-string. United had clawed their way back from two goals down and were unlucky to fall to an 87th minute Ritchie Partridge goal. 

John Miles shot the home side into the lead after 15 minutes amid torrential rain and Biscan made it 2-0 with a 30-yarder after 33 minutes. 

Jamie Coppinger pulled one back a minute later with a low shot past an unsighted Kirkland from the edge of the box and after the break Jamie McClen equalised after 66 minutes following a clever pass from Andy Griffin and a layoff from substitute Michael Chopra. Four minutes later a McClen corner was cleared off the line by Diomede and a goalbound Chopra header also beat the keeper but not a defender. 

United survived two similar scrapes at the other end in what turned out to be a classic second 45 minutes.

Partridge however got the winner with three minutes to go when Carl Bell made a great save from a Diomede shot but Partridge was on hand to slam home the rebound.

Our away winning streak was over, but after looking odds on for a hammering when the second Liverpool goal went in, United showed great character to pull the game around and dominated the play once back to 2-2. 

The cruelest of deflections let in the reds for the winner, just as United were beginning to dream of a winner and Tommy Craig was almost hoarse from urging his midfielders on to greater attacking efforts.

So, three goals past Carl Bell on his debut but a couple of good stops for him to look back on and a reasonable start to life at this level and it'll be a long time before he's beaten by a shot as well-struck as the Biscan effort.

For Peter Ramage, a place on the bench one day short of his 18th birthday, but no runout, while academy midfielder Tommy English also wasn't called upon - their time will come though. 

Reports