TITLE CHASING TOWN DOWN RAMS

Harvey Whyte turns in an early opener for Rammy before the visitors took control of the game.

WYTHENSHAWE TOWN 4

Arriving at the HWRS in excellent form, the game that had been evenly contested, saw a change in momentum due to a red card, of which the visitors took full advantage.

The first chance of the match fell to former Burnley striker George Boyd, but his effort was blocked, although he would come back to taunt the Rams later.

As it was, the home side took the lead in the tenth minute when a ball drilled into the area from the left found Harvey Whyte who turned it in to give the Rams an early boost.

The lead lasted for quarter of an hour before the afore-mentioned Boyd found space to drive home a low right-wing cross.

Whyte had an excellent chance to put the Rams back in front, minutes later, but his cheeky lob beat the goalkeeper but finished the wrong side of the post.

The half progressed with both team competing well, but the game turned on the stroke of half-time.

Maine Walder, who had been cautioned early in the game, slid into a tackle, that thanks to the hysterics of the visiting keeper and a couple of his colleague, persuaded the referee to issue a second yellow card, followed by the inevitable red.

So, from an evenly contested first half, the visitors smelt blood and it didn’t take the long, just three minutes after the restart, to take the lead.

Will Riding had already seen his free-kick clear the Rams bar by inches, before a cross from the left found Boyd, who again buried it into the back of the net.

Rod Ajayi saw a header go wide for Town, whilst Tom Bentham was inches away from adding a third.

That third did arrive, however, on 73 minutes with Town captain Luke Nock notching the goal to put the visitors into a commanding position.

The home side tried to rally, and a tempting free-kick into the box from Oscar Radcliffe was headed down to Matt Dudley, but his shot sailed across the face of the goal.

However, within three minutes of going 3-1 down, the hosts grabbed a lifeline thanks to some quick thinking from Dudley. A free-kick by the half-way line was quickly taken, sending Kuda Chingwaro racing into the Wythenshawe half. He managed to evade a couple of tackles in the penalty area before planting the ball past keeper Greg Hall, and suddenly from nowhere, it was game on again.

Nock had another effort to put the game to bed, but his effort was saved by Ryan Hamer, however with the minutes running down, a fine low drive by Bentham from outside the area, caught a deflection, and flew past Hamer to give the visitors a 4-2 lead which they never looked like giving up despite six minutes of time added on.

Manager Steve Wilkes was philosophical. “A much better performance against in my opinion, the best and strongest team we’ve faced all season.

“Obviously the sending-off changed the game, but really proud of the players in the second half for never giving up and I thought we might have nicked a point with five minutes to go.

“We move onto Litherland on Saturday and if we put in a performance like we did in the first half against Wythenshawe Town, we’ll give ourselves a great chance”.

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Hamer, Radcliffe, Walder, Sephton, Lent, Black, Fitzgerald (Farquharson 45mins), Whittingham (Lewis 66mins), Dudley (Bartram 90mins), Whyte (Ogunby 83mins), Chingwaro (Campbell 90mins)

Att: 189