MATCH REPORT: Chadderton 6-2 FC Isle of Man

Photo Credit: Deborah Eastham (@DEasthamphoto)

Written by Jacob Jones 

We provided ourselves a huge boost on our journey towards promotion last night, with a 6-2 victory over our well-travelled visitors, FC Isle of Man. Whilst it was obviously a fantastic night for all involved at the football club, it was a particularly remarkable night for our striker Lewis Byrne, who would become the first player in history to score sixty goals in an nwcfl season.

Despite the heavy scoreline, there was a considerable wait for the goals to start flying in, the opening half an hour was largely frustrating, the opposing goalkeeper, denying us from opening the scoring with saves from efforts by Lewis Byrne and Matthew Barlow.

But around the thirty-five-minute mark, we would open the scoring, an extremely clever pass from Robert Flynn, piecing through the heart of the Isle of Man defence, finding Tawab Djankpata, in prime position to smash it home.

As soon as one came, another one followed, Robert Flynn once again the provider, this time playing a lofted pass to Lewis Byrne, who is always a threat to the opposition goal, on this instance selecting a lob to be the method in which he punished the opposition and doubled our lead late in the half.

But the goals just kept coming in the closing stages of the first half, another one for Tawab Djankpata would see us gain a three-goal advantage. It was another ball over the top that caught the away team’s defence off guard, this time via Braden Edghill. There was still a lot for Tawab to do, as he took it around the goalkeeper and placed the ball into an empty net.

But our work was still not done there, a fourth goal within fifteen minutes before the conclusion of the half, this time Rob Flynn getting some of the glory for himself with a freekick on the left side that he drives across the keeper leaving him with no chance of keeping it out.

We would continue to assault the Isle of Man goal in the second half, but it would be our opponents who would strike first, Dean Pinnington’s strike beating Ollie Culkin to make it 4-1.

We would not let this deter us however, going back to scoring goals, the next one coming through Connor Hughes, who is assisted by Lewis Byrne with an inviting through ball, Connor calmy slots it past the goalkeeper to restore our four goal lead.

Then came the record-breaking goal from Lewis Byrne, he gets on the end of a cross from Kain Dean and convert from close range, to make it 6-1 on the night and sixty for himself this season, a record-breaking accomplishment that he should be extremely proud of. 

Before the end of the game, Isle of Man would claw one back through Charlie Higgins, but ultimately it would be a game we would see out until the final whistle with relative ease. Our attentions now turn to a massive clash on the weekend with Irlam as we hope to take another stride towards promotion.

#UpTheChad