The name ‘Daisy Hill’ conjures up two images; the first is of a beautiful place where the sun never stops shining and where fields of emerald green grass flow underneath colourful flowers. The other is of an infamous battlefield from the Napoleonic or Boer Wars where the brave British army fought a valiant fight to the last man in heroic defeat….well this one was more like the latter as the Duke of Manning’s Purple Coated army trudged wearily home in the pouring rain after suffering their first defeat of the season.

Daisy Hill FC dates back to 1894 and it’s nice that their ground still carries some of the original features and charm that hark back to that era……like the décor in the ladies toilet and the speakers on the PA system. But their welcome is at least as warm as their name suggests with one Partisan in particular gaining entrance for the price of a child…….she got married to our club photographer in May and shes 30 in November folks!!!

OK I know you don’t want to read this anymore than I want to write it, so I’ll keep it short and get straight down to the teams; Returning in goal was Ste Longrigg back from injury and with Joe Camozzi celebrating his nuptials (congratulations Mr and Mrs Camozzi, now don’t wear him out on that honeymoon please) there were only two changes from the team that started the 8-0 home rout against Atherton on Monday.
1 Longrigg
2 Daniels 5 Dalton 6 Weston 3 Kelly
7 Lester 8 Dykes 4 Blayney 11 B Williams
9 Woods 10 Webb

Subs 12 Abelwhite
14 Barry
15 Peterson
16 Chojnicki
17 Dunne

The conditions were terrible, with persistent precipitation the order for much of the day, making it one of those soggy, cold and miserable days that tells you winter is on its way. The only bright spot to the whole day was that despite the conditions, the frankly magnificent army of Partisans that turned out to get behind the team once more. Peter Furmedge actually went around with a clicker during the game and counted 221 away fans, which is quite incredible as the official match attendance was only 184 (and this fella is in charge of the accounts folks :) ). The match got underway 5 minutes late, with congestion behind the bar being blamed for the late kick-off…….it might have been better all round if the ref hadn’t bothered kicking it off at all.
The first 30 minutes were as forgettable as last night’s reboot of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ on BBC1 with both teams struggling to adjust to the conditions, but COLs in particular seeming to be in too much of a hurry to get rid of the ball and punt it forward early. The only entertainment was going on behind the home end goal, where the Partisans present had noticed the resemblance between Daisy Hill’s goalkeeper and Grant Mitchell of Eastenders fame.
Ant Daniels found himself booked early on for a poor challenge as the hosts tried to launch one of many quick break outs that caused City problems all day.
Woods did manage to get a good shot on goal but Peggy’s lad saved well with his legs and Longy too had to save in the same way minutes later at the other end.
On 31 minutes, City broke the deadlock and it was one of those freak goals that give keepers nightmares. Grant’s mam will be telling him ‘get ahhht moi pab’ next time she sees him as the keeper came rushing way outside of his box to clear a loose ball. Ever the willing workhorse, Daley Woods was on hand to apply the pressure and when the ball was cleared against his shins it bounced hard up over the shiny head of Ross Kemp and looped into the empty net. It was harsh on the home side who had played the better up to this point, but we will take what comes our way.

Daisy Hill replied straight away by hitting the bar (good luck getting served lads) but the goal did seem to settle the Purps and they started to play some of the football we know they can. However, it wasn’t good enough to stop a good move by the hosts being rounded off by Matthew Knowles to make it 1-1 just 8 minutes later.

There was still time for Britain’s Hardest Man to almost gift City a second, this time a poor punt straight to Chris Lester which was just over as the wide man tried to steer a shot into the unguarded net from 35 yards.

HT 1-1

Simon Burton threw on new signing Franny Barry at half time in place of Sean Kelly, with Chris Lester moving into Left back and Barry out wide. The change didn’t really do much to alter the pattern of play from the first half though and the home side started to grow more and more in confidence as they created the better chances and dominated midfield.

Stephenson earned a booking when attempting a hand of god from a Daisy Hill corner, but by now City were struggling to even get hold of the ball. Dalton had to hook clear from underneath his own bar on 61 mins then Brad Williams arced a great cross in from the left that Webb headed over when unmarked. A clearence by Longrigg found its way to Barry and he raced clear, but his shot was saved again by the feet of the Walford Wanderer.

On 67 Simon had, had enough and threw on both Abelwhite and another new signing Peterson for Webb and Woods. To be fair to the front two though, they had been starved of good service all day long and the new frontline weren’t about to get any better service either. Peterson did curl a long range effort over and Abelwhite met another great cross from Williams well, but scooped his shot over, but in truth it was Daisy Hill who were still dominating the game and five minutes from the end they got the goal they deserved.

The Partisans were more than miffed when the referee waved play on after not one but two bad challenges on Abelwhite, and that miffedness turned to outrage when Daisy Hill straight away passed the ball neatly up to Alex McPolin who sent a world class shot into the top corner from 25 yards to make it 2-1. It was an injustice, but it was only what the home team had deserved for their second half performance and it was a fitting goal to win any game.

FT 1-2

So the unbeaten record is gone and this performance was every bit as dire as last Monday’s was sublime. Its not so hard to take, losing when you deserve to lose and Simon and the lads have a quick chance to make amends on Tuesday night at home to St Helens. Something tells me the Partisans will be there in numbers again, still cheering on the lads.