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ACTION REPLAY 26 7 WC PREDICTIONS
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ACTION REPLAY
SQUIRES GATE 2-1 AVRO
The visitors had the ball in the net in the opening stages, although the whistle blew early for a clear foul on Gate keeper Nathan Pennington.
It was Gate though who took the lead, with Nathan Cliffe opening the scoring inside just seven minutes. Theo Ball did superbly to hold up the ball and find Cliffe in behind , and the striker finished clinically into the bottom corner. The Avro goalkeeper had to be at full stretch to deny Cliffe and Gate a second goal just five minutes later.
Gate went even closer to a second goal on 21 minutes, with Dan Gray hitting the post with an audacious lob from distance after the Avro keeper hit a clearance straight to Gray well off his line.
Evans' men deservedly doubled their lead on 40 minutes, with Cliffe scoring his second of the night. A well-worked move led to Moore spraying a superb pass in behind for Cliffe who rounded the goalkeeper and tucked it away from a tight angle. Gate had the first shot of the second half, with Boyd slicing an effort off target from distance after being well picked out by Harrison Webster.
Webster was then needed at the other end, with the left-back clearing a header off the line after the visitors bundled an effort towards goal after a dangerous cross.
The visitors missed a good chance to get a goal back on 79 minutes, hitting wide from just inside the box after a clever cut back from the right.
Gate were reduced to ten-men a few minutes later, with Harrison Webster shown a second yellow card. Avro had the ball in the net from the following free kick, but the offside flag was up to keep the score at 2-0.
Avro did get a goal back though on 89 minutes, with a ball across goal by Sutcliffe tapped home at the back post by Southworth.
1. PENNINGTON 2. ABANKWAH 3. H. WEBSTER 4. GRAY 5. WELSH 6. WESTWOOD © 7. MOORE 8. C. WEBSTER 9. BALL 10. CLIFFE 11. BOYD
PICTURES BY IAN MOORE // @OLDBLUEFOX // @FYLDEFOX
ACTION REPLAY
IRLAM 0-3 SQUIRES GATE
Skipper Josh Westwood had to be switched on inside the first five minutes to make an important clearance at the back post, before Hughes had Gate’s first effort of the game at the other end on 13 minutes, with his volley from the edge of the box deflecting off target.
Gate broke the deadlock on 17 minutes through Dan Gray’s first goal of the season. A sliced clearance from the Irlam goalkeeper after good pressing from the Gate attack fell to Gray, who did superbly to volley into the net from distance.
Gate almost got a second goal in similar fashion just four minutes later, with Hughes the man to intercept a poor clearance from the goalkeeper, but his shot from even further out landed just wide of the top corner.
Young striker Yilmaz played an excellent ball across goal that Cliffe could only stab wide at full stretch on 31 minutes as Gate searched for a second goal before the break. Ryan Moore had Gate’s first shot of the second half, firing an effort wide after Yilmaz did well to lay him off on the edge of the box.
Gate doubled their lead on 55 minutes, with Nathan Cliffe bagging his 13th goal of the season. An Irlam goal kick was won in the air by Dan Gray, with his brilliant header finding Cliffe in behind who was as clinical as ever with his finish.
Mekkaoui-Abouzaid and Harrison Kay entered the action for Gate in place of Yilmaz and Moore, as Gate began to control the game professionally.
Ryan Riley was next to come on for Gate in place of Cliffe, with an Irlam man and Nathan Bartram both receiving yellow cards a few minutes apart with Gate frustrating the hosts.
Gate sealed their win on 87 minutes, with James Boyd tapping into an empty net after pressing the Irlam keeper into another poor mistake.
