FC Isle of Man narrowly beaten in cracker against Charnock Richard

Ravens just miss out in nine-goal thriller at Mossie Park

Two big comebacks from FC Isle of Man proved to not quite be enough as they narrowly lost out 5-4 at Charnock Richard in a thriller in the NWCFL Premier Division this afternoon (11 March).

Charnock Richard were two up at the break courtesy of a Nathan Nickeas quickfire double before Jacob Crook and Charlie Higgins struck back early in the second half to level things.

The hosts then netted three times in ten minutes through Lewis Haydock, Shay Stansfield and Jordan Darr to retake control with less than 20 minutes to go.

A late surge from 'The Ravens' saw them grab two more in second-half stoppage time through a Charlie Higgins penalty and a Marcus Haydock own goal, but it wasn't to stop them just falling short in a cracker at Mossie Park.

With 17 minutes played, FC Isle of Man were the first to find the back of the net as Jacob Crook poked home after a scramble from in the penalty from a corner, only for the goal to be chalked off for a handball in the build-up.

To add further insult from an FC Isle of Man perspective, they were then punished at the other end seven minutes later when a Charnock Richard free-kick fell to Nickeas who slammed home a volley to open the scoring.

Not long later on 27 minutes, the hosts and Nickeas had their second when a driving run from Marcus Haydock saw him feed Nickeas through on goal before he calmly slotted past Adam Killey.

Just seven minutes into the second half, the Manx side grabbed themselves a lifeline as Crook - having seen a goal disallowed in the first period - guided a header home, following some strong work by Adam Adebiyi, to halve the deficit.

Clearly boosted, FC Isle of Man then got back on level terms on the hour-mark when a Dean Pinnington free-kick picked out Higgins who duly sent a header sailing past Charnock Richard stopper, Ryan Hamer.

However, just as they did in the first half, Charnock Richard would go on stun their visitors with another quickfire double to retake control.

First, Lewis Haydock heading in from a corner on 72 minutes on his 250th appearance for the club before another header, this time from Shay Stansfield, found its way in for Charnock Richard's fourth two minutes after.

With eight minutes of normal time to play, the home side were on target again as Darr added his name to the scoresheet, converting past Killey after being found by a pin-point James Nolan pass.

Three goals down, FC Isle of Man weren't deterred as they fought back yet again - in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, Higgins was brought down by Charnock Richard's Ashley Young in the penalty area with the referee pointing to the spot.

Higgins slammed his resulting spot-kick down the middle to bring the gap back down to two.

Four minutes into added time, FC Isle of Man set up a nervy finish from an unlikely source as a shot took a wild deflection off Charnock Richard defender, Marcus Haydock before sailing into the net.

There wouldn't, however, be time for a grandstand finish as Charnock Richard saw out the remaining two minutes of stoppage time to secure three points in thrilling contest at Mossie Park.

FC Isle of Man's next match will be away at Barnoldswick Town on Tuesday, 14 April, kicking-off at 7.45pm at the Silentnight Stadium.