Caton Vs Fleetwood Town
Result : 0 - 3
Syndicate Cup
Syndicate Cup
Fleetwood Town reached the Semi Final of the Syndicate Trust Cup with an extremely hard fought victory against a valiant Caton team.
After last weeks postponement both teams were pleased to eventually get this fixture on.
Town started the game brightly and had two excellent chances saved by the Caton keeper and one cleared off the line. However Caton then began to create some good chances themselves and Town Keeper Joe Wheeler had to be in good form to keep the score level.
Caton had a penalty claim turned down just before the interval when Fleetwood were on the back foot. A change in formation meant that new signing Sam Binks moved into the centre of midfield and this seemed to steady the ship for Town. No score at the interval it was Caton that went in the happier of the two teams.
In the second period Fleetwood seemed to be more fired up. Binks and captain Jake Salisbury started to win the battle in midfield. Mick McAlpine back after suspension was making some excellent runs behind the Caton defense and strikers Joe Higgins and Jordan Wood were creating space and chances.
Five minutes into the second half Fleetwood opened the scoring after another great timed run by McAlpine saw him beat the offside trap and although his effort was well saved by the Caton keeper Wood was there to slot the ball home.
Credit to Caton they kept going forward and creating chances but the excellent back four of Fleetwood, particularly Fran Donaghy and Alex Bethell were in impressive form.
Sam Binks was the architect of Towns second. Collecting the ball just inside the opposition half he went n a mazy run that left four defenders in his wake and found McAlpine unmarked in the box and he fired home.
The last fifteen minutes Fleetwood dominated the play with some good football despite the deteriorating playing surface. McAlpine finally put the game out of reach with his second and Towns third. He intercepted a poor ball from a Caton defender and with a one on one with the keeper he coolly rounding him and rolled the ball into the empty net.
After the game manager Mark Bowley said “We didn’t start the game well at all today are Finishing was poor and we were sloppy with some of our passing. Caton battled hard and had us under a lot of pressure in the first half. We had a few words with the lads during the interval and credit to them all they picked the tempo up.
We are delighted to get to this stage in the competition in our first season but there are still some very good teams left in it and we will have to play better than we did if we want to reach the final. Squad: Wheeler. Amos. Bethel. Donaghy. Rankin. Binks. Salisbury. Crolla. McAlpine. Wood. Higgins
Subs; McGough. Ogden. Clarke Man of the Match: Sam Binks
Scorers : McAlpine 2, Wood
