FC Isle of Man thrashed by ruthless Atherton

Ravens fall to joint-heaviest home defeat of season

FC Isle of Man's unbeaten league run was brought to a shuddering halt as they were on the end of a punishing 5-1 home defeat to Atherton Laburnum Rovers in the NWCFL Premier Division this evening (7 March).

The in-form visitors were three goals up inside the opening 15 minutes courtesy of a wayward Edward Jones cross and two close-range strikes from Thomas Romano.

A Kyle Watson penalty then got the Manx side on the scoresheet before Romano completed his hat-trick three minutes into the second half.

Joe Bacon then capitalised on an FC Isle of Man defensive mix-up just before the hour mark to complete the Island side's joint-heaviest home defeat of the campaign so far.

A much-changed FC Isle of Man side took the pitch at The Bowl this evening against an Atherton team on a sensational run of eight straight victories and undefeated since late November.

With less than 90 seconds played, Atherton took the lead when Edward Jones' mis-hit cross from the right sailed over FC Isle of Man goalkeeper, Adam Killey and into the far corner.

The away side doubled their lead with eight minutes gone when Atherton's Romano danced past two challenges on the right edge of the FC Isle of Man penalty area before lashing a strike from a tight angle into the roof of the net.

With the hosts' defence reeling, Romano struck again on 15 minutes to get Atherton's third, this time poking home from close range after a scramble in the six-yard box from an Atherton corner.

With a huge mountain to climb, FC Isle of Man did manage to hit back against the run of play on 22 minutes.

A loose back-pass from Lance Houghton of Atherton to his goalkeeper, Joseph Bickerstaffe was pounced on by Adam Adebiyi in the Atherton box who was then tripped by Bickerstaffe as he tried to round the goalkeeper, with referee, Archie Banks pointing to the spot.

Kyle Watson stepped up and duly dispatched his spot kick past Bickerstaffe into the bottom right-hand corner.

Into the second period, and Atherton started as quickly as they finished the first, netting again within three minutes of the restart.

A long ball over the FC Isle of Man defence found Romano on the right who sprinted through on goal and swept a calm, low effort past Killey into the bottom corner.

'The Ravens'' night then got worse just before the hour mark as, on 58 minutes, a mix-up between Karl Clark and Killey in the FC Isle of Man penalty area saw Clark inadvertently poke the ball into the path of Bacon only two yards out to tap into an empty net.

The final whistle marked the first time FC Isle of Man had tasted defeat on home soil since 10 January whilst their opponents marched to a ninth straight victory and remain in striking distance of the play-off positions.

FC Isle of Man's next match will be at home against Chadderton on Saturday, 14 March, kicking-off at 7pm.

Man of the Match: Thomas Romano (Atherton LR)