FC Isle of Man
Ravens Snatch Late Win
See the goal here!
After a rather drab 93 minutes, Charlie Higgins again proved to be Avro’s Kryptonite as FC Isle of Man scored a late, late, LATE, stoppage time winner on Saturday night.
Not only does it mean the Ravens have done a league double over their promotion chasing opponents, but both times they have been downed by young a Higgins goal.
With the Ravens unbeaten in their last three games and their league position secured, this game gave them a chance to set down a marker for where they want to be come this next time next year.
While the Ravens started the game the brighter, they found themselves frustrated by the visitors, with Avro putting up a strong resistance to whatever Paul Jones’ men had to throw at them.
The closest FC Isle of Man would come to breaking the deadlock was when Chris Cannell’s cross deflected onto the bar, much to the relief of the visitors’ keeper. For Avro, their best effort would also hit the bar, but this came from a 50/50 challenge that pinballed up and into the night sky.
The second half was not the most exciting 45 minutes of football you’ll ever see, with the sides largely cancelling each other out, though the Ravens’ did largely keep hold of the ball, which will no doubt please boss Paul Jones, as will the maturity shown by some of the younger players, such as Ben Wilkinson who went from not being in the squad to on the the bench to being called into action when Matt Quirk had to go off injured.
But while the game looked to be drifting to a scoreless draw, Cannell burst free, spread it wide to Ste Whitley who looked to chip the Avro keeper, he left him stranded, only to see the ball drop off the cross bar and bounce out. However, right on cue, in came Higgins, who even while being fouled, managed to do enough to make sure the ball found its way into the back of the net, sending the home support wild and leaving Avro dejected.
Speaking after the game, Paul Jones said: ‘I thought we were the better side for the majority of the game and thoroughly deserved the victory. It’s always nice to score a last minute winner too.’
