A mixed weekend for FC Isle of Man saw the club win one and lose one of the two games played in under 24 hours.
The Ravens played Colne on Friday night, with that game moved to Ilkley in Yorkshire, before heading to the Silentnight Stadium to face Barnoldswick Town.
Friday’s game against Colne saw the Ravens put in one of their performances of the season as goals from Jack McVey and Charlie Higgins secured a 2-0 win.
The ‘home’ side started the quicker and pushed the Ravens back into their own half in the first couple of minutes, but how the Ravens dealt with that early pressure set the tone for a confident defensive display.
Charlie Higgins provided the Ravens’ early threat as he danced through a couple of challenges, only to drag his shot wide from the edge of the box.
As the game settled down, keeper Adam Killey was called into action as Colne worked a good move from right to left but Killey got down well to get a strong hand on Loui Williams’s effort.
Despite pushing for an opener through Ste Whitley’s driving effort plus Tiernan Garvey and Al Maitland headers, the Ravens were actually the more fortunate to go in level at the break.
A Colne corner saw a scramble in the box and, while it did look like the ball had crossed the line, the officials weren’t certain so didn’t give the goal.
The second half saw Paul Jones’s side take control and impose themselves on Colne, with Dan Hattersley doing a tremendous amount of selfless running and work to keep the Colne backline occupied.
That pressure paid off when Garvey’s shot hit an arm, resulting in a penalty that was coolly dispatched by Jack McVey.
Higgins got his reward for a strong performance with a header from a corner to make it 0-2.
While the Ravens came under pressure late on, a strong and gritty performance from the back four and Killey ensured the three points and a clean sheet.
While Friday was a triumph, Saturday’s game just proved too much to ask as the Ravens faced Barlick on a heavy pitch.
As Jones made changes to the squad, bringing Ronan McDonnell, Furo Davies, Ben Wilkinson, Jamie Corlett and Tom Creer, it was the latter of them who would strike first to give the Ravens and early lead.
Creer chased down a bobbly back pass and nipped in ahead of the Barlick keeper to make it 0-1 inside 10 minutes.
Sadly, that was as good as it got for the Ravens as Wilkinson was called into action on several occasions, while Gareth Hill missed the most open of open goals for Barlick when he should have equalised.
But Barlick levelled the scores shortly after as Foster got in behind the back four and slotted the ball under Wilkinson who couldn’t have done anything to stop it.
The home side took the lead before half-time as the Ravens failed to clear their lines and, when the ball was lofted back in, Ryan Moore volleyed his side ahead despite appearing to be clearly offside, 2-1.
A second-half goal from Gareth Hill put the game beyond any real doubt, with Danny Gerrard’s goal only offering a feint glimmer of hope when he made it 4-2 with a few minutes to go.
But Barlick wrapped up the points as Conor High got on the end of a Luke Stowe cross to make it 5-2 to Barlick.
- The Ravens’ next game is this evening (Tuesday) away versus Charnock Richard.