UCLan Men’s 2nd football team stunned Manchester Met by coming from behind before dumping the side out with a flurry of goals and courtesy of a Jack Moseley brace.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Manchester who had imposed themselves on UCLan in the opening exchanges and were unlucky on several occasions not to take the lead in the opening minutes, but efforts were to be denied by last gasp challenges by centre back Ray Upton.
However it was UCLan that took their chances and a clever through ball by Moseley enabled his team-mate to open the scoring. Manchester responded well, the goal deposit seemed to breathe a new lease of life into the team and continued to test UCLan’s resolve through set-pieces. Finally, in the 25th minute constant pressure applied to the home side paid off. A corner whipped in from the left was drilled in by an opposing striker to level the scores at 1-1.
Manchester on the ascendancy, continued to test the home side who struggled to cope, and seven minutes later the visitors doubled their tally to lead 2-1, again with a set play which was placed inside the keepers near post.
With UCLan looking deflated, it was inevitable the away side were going to continue in their rampant mood. This time a heel flick saw the UCLan defence sliced in half leading to the visitors gaining a two goal cushion making the scoreboard at halftime read 3-1 to Manchester.
This left a challenging 45 minutes for the home side, as both sides had chances but UCLan failed to make them count in the first half. Then after a bright opening few minutes UCLan found a lifeline in the form of their number 11 after 52 minutes. The striker planted home with his head after Manchester failed to deal with a set piece. Renewed optimism and confidence from the home side started to chip away at Met’s belief, causing the goalkeeper to fumble and UCLan to level the scores at 3-3.
UCLan, now taking the upper hand, took the game to the visitors and just past the hour mark a spectacular bicycle kick saw the home side take the lead. Another goalkeeping mistake saw the away side take a foothold and level the scores at 4-4.
With both sides locked in a stalemate, it would take something special to break the deadlock. A corner saw UCLan’s centre back Mason drill home the men’s fifth of the afternoon. The game was shortly wrapped up by UCLan’s number 11 after being first to act and poke home in the penalty area to make the final score 6-4 and a deserved place in the second round of the cup.
After the game, Coach Adam Shilock said: “We played well today and deserved the win in the end, but we conceded some sloppy goals.
“Our season starts here”
