Wythenshawe Town secured all three points against Irlam in dramatic fashion as Chinedu Uche scored with minutes to spare at Ericstan Park.
John Main’s fielded a much-changed team from the side that lost 2-1 to Charnock Richard in the team’s previous league outing. Most notably star striker Declan Daniels was absent as he served a suspension after picking up a red card in his last match.
For Irlam fans who witnessed the 0-0 stalemate played out by the two sides earlier in the campaign, the first half an hour of the game would have conjured up feelings of Déjà vu.
The home side dominated the ball for long spells in the opening third of the game but failed to trouble Lee white in the Irlam goal.
However, much to the relief of those in attendance, the game sparked to life in the 37th minute as Isaac Abankwah drove forward from the halfway line and found striker Tom Bentham in the opposition box.
Under pressure from the Irlam defence, Bentham managed to set the ball back to Bruno Severino who could not prevent his powerful effort from rising over the bar.
Moments later, the home side was denied again this time by the barest of margins.
Following a skilful play down the right-hand side to open up space, Chinedu Uche intricately slid the ball inside to Rodney Ajayi in the right-hand channel of the box.
From a tight angle, Ajayi crashed the ball against the underside of the bar having beaten White for pace. The strike bounced down on the line and evaded onrushing Wythenshawe attackers looking to tap home.
After a disappointing first half, Irlam was much improved after the interval and nearly took the lead through their best chance of the match five minutes after the restart.
Attacker Millen Brown capitalised on a mistake from Lee Wilshaw and raced through one-on-one from the halfway line.
Perhaps the attacker had too much time to think about the finish as he tamely dragged his effort wide to the left of Greg Hall’s goal.
Irlam had nearly led with their first real chance of the game and went even closer with their second.
Right back Jack Mitchell drove forward to the right-hand side of the Wythenshawe box. With Irlam committing bodies forward expecting a cross Mitchell opted to strike low towards the bottom left corner and saw his strike cannon off the inside of the post.
As the half progressed both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances as defences remained resolute. With time running out another 0–0 result looked firmly on the cards.
That was until Chinedu Uche broke the deadlock with a moment of inspiration with minutes to spare.
A late Wythenshawe corner swung in from the left and failed to beat the man at the near post who cleared to Abankwah. The defender looked to curl the ball from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner.
Uche cleverly redirected Abankwah’s strike from the edge of the box flicking the ball past a diving Lee White in the Irlam goal inflicting late heartbreak on the visiting side.
With this defeat, John Main’s team remained 18th in the North West Counties Premier League. This weekend Irlam breaks from League action looking to continue their run in the FA Vase.
The Salford-based side is headed to the North-East this Saturday to face former FA Vase winners Whickham FC.
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