A Game with Two Winners

The curtain came down on Manx football for 2022 with an entertaining draw at the Bowl on Wednesday evening.

An Isle of Man FA representative side faced FC Isle of Man in the charity game, with the money raised going to Isle Listen and Victim Support.

In total, the game raised £1,600 to be split between the charities. The total is made up of the gate and live streaming revenues, as well as match fees, which were donated by officials Paul Hodskinson, Matty Shaw, Rob Slinger and Mark Thomas.

With the Island Games coming up next year and FC Isle of Man going through a period of transition, the game provided a chance for all of the players to show what they can do and stake a claim for themselves.

The FA side started quicker and the first big chance came the way of Blane Slattery’s side as Ryan Gartland linked up with Danny Gerrard and Brody Patience, but the latter’s curling effort just went wide of James Rice’s goal. 

The Ravens created a couple of chances for themselves, but rather tame efforts from Luke Murray and Furo Davies failed to trouble Adam Killey. 

The breakthrough came for the FA side when Ryan Burns felled Gerrard and referee Paul Hodskinson pointed to the spot, up stepped Patience, 1-0.

It looked like the FA side had doubled their lead just moments later after Jay Chatwood was brought down by Jack McVey, but Woods was rightly judged to be offside from the resulting freekick.

Within moments the Ravens drew level as a Ste Whitley cross was met by Furo Davies, whose diving header found its way into Killey’s far post, 1-1.

Gartland continued to drive forward for the FA side and when the Ravens found the only way to stop him was to foul him, he had a chance to put Slattery’s men ahead again, but his free kick was straight at Rice. 

For the Ravens’ part, Luke Murray thought he’d given Paul Jones’ side the lead, only for his long range strike to be brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Killey.

Slattery’s men would be the ones to take the lead again just before halftime as a quick throw saw Gerrard in space at the edge of the box, his cross to Gartland was played into Chatwood, with the big man slotting past Rice to give his side a 2-1 lead at the break.

With a whole host of changes at half time, the game somewhat drifted in the second half, but the highlight certainly came from Tom Creer who met a Ste Whitley cross and looped the ball over Glen Walker in the FA goal. 

There was only really one big chance for either side as the clock ran down, with Shuan Kelly’s header coming back off the bar, while Rice’s stunning save to keep out a Patience header showed why he has made the Ravens’ number one his own this season. 

In the end, a draw was a fair result and with the two deserved winners being Victim Support and Isle Listen.