Litherland punish lacklustre FC Isle of Man

Ravens concede three in second defeat this week

FC Isle of Man were made to pay for a below-par performance as they were beaten 3-0 by Litherland REMYCA in the NWCFL Premier Division this evening (5 August).

The Manx side trailed at The Bowl after 20 minutes thanks to Elliot Taylor's half-volley with Taylor then adding a second seven minutes into the second half with a composed one-on-one finish.

Midfielder, William Dunne then added a third for the visitors in the 56th minute, converting from the penalty spot after Taylor was brought down in the Ravens' box.

The Island side's misery was rounded off in second-half stoppage time when Ryan Burns was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Both sides came into this evening's contest hoping for a change in fortunes in this early stage of the season.

FC Isle of Man were hoping to bounce back from defeat in midweek to Ramsbottom United whilst Litherland REMYCA were hunting their first win of the new campaign.

In a tightly-contested opening to the first half, the hosts suffered an early setback when striker, Sean Doyle was forced off with a minor muscle strain on 13 minutes.

Seven minutes after that, Litherland REMYCA opened the scoring as a long ball from goalkeeper, Jack Reynolds, found Elliot Taylor who, on the edge of the FC IoM box, shrugged off his marker before turning and lashing a half-volley into FC IoM goalkeeper, Adam Killey's top right corner.

This seemed to bring some more life into the Ravens who began to dominate the ball for the remainder of the first half - despite this, the home side struggled to trouble Reynolds in the Litherland goal.

Taylor almost had the visiting outfit two-up on 31 minutes, but he was denied one-on-one from 18 yards by a strong boot from Killey.

Hoping for a turnaround in the second half, FC Isle of Man's second 45 got off to the worst possible start with 52 minutes gone as Litherland's Oliver Nugent found Taylor with a searching through ball on the counter-attack which split the FC Isle of Man defence.

This allowed Taylor to stride through on goal before rounding Killey and slotting into an empty net for 2-0.

With FC Isle of Man's composure in disarray, things got more difficult for them four minutes later when Taylor was bundled over in the Ravens' penalty area by Jack Higgins with referee, Matthew O'Shea pointing to the spot.

Up stepped Litherland's William Dunne who slammed the spot kick down the middle with Killey diving to his right to put Litherland in total command at 3-0.

By this stage, the visitors had settled into a comfortable rhythm as FC Isle of Man struggled for the remainder of the half to find any clear-cut openings on goal with Reynolds in the Litherland goalmouth largely a bystander.

As time ticked away, a miserable day for FC Isle of Man took another poor turn in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time as defender Ryan Burns - who'd already picked up a caution - received a second yellow for hauling down Litherland substitute, Tom Lawless with Burns subsequently being sent off.

The Ravens very nearly snatched a consolation with almost the last kick of the game as substitute, Danny Gerrard, whipped a promising free-kick at goal from 30 yards, but Reynolds was quick across his goal line to tip the effort over the crossbar.

Tonight's defeat means FC Isle of Man now take a record of one win and two defeats from their opening three fixtures.

FC Isle of Man's next fixture will be at home against Padiham on Saturday, 12 August, kicking-off at 6pm

Man of the Match: Oliver Nugent (Litherland REMYCA)