FC United beaten at home by Scarborough Athletic

First Posted ~ 22:37 Sun 25 Aug 2019 News ID ~ 8469 Last Updated ~ 17:15 Tue 27 Aug 2019

FC United remain rooted to the bottom of the BetVictor Northern Premier Division after suffering their third consecutive defeat of the season, 1-0 at home to Scarborough Athletic.Supporters who witnessed Tuesday night’s game against Hyde would have been wondering if FC United would carry on playing like they did in the last 15 minutes, when they stormed the Hyde goal and almost got a point.Or if they would play the kind of aimless pretty-passing football with no direction, no determination, no commitment, like they did in the first 75 minutes of that match. Unfortunately it was the latter.The Reds were outplayed, outmuscled and outclassed by a Scarborough team that had just been thrashed 5-1 by Stalybridge Celtic midweek.It started badly. Within two minutes, United conceded a third soft penalty in as many games with an innocuous looking challenge just inside the box.This time Wharton was not called on to make a save as Walshaw skied the ball high over the crossbar.FC’s only decent chance of the first half came with a smart throw out from Wharton to Griffiths on the halfway line, threaded through to Sharp, who turned neatly and saw his shot go just over the bar. From then on it was all Scarborough.Wharton pulled off a magnificent reaction save with his right hand on 22 minutes but the goal came four minutes later.A free-kick was lofted into the box and FC United failed to clear their lines. Wharton committed himself and ended up chasing the ball out to the right.With the goal unguarded, the Scarborough winger dipped the ball back into the middle and it was prodded into the back of the net.Wharton redeemed himself on 39 minutes gathering the ball right off Walshaw’s feet as the striker was through one-on-one.Play was held up for some time after Griffiths and Dean collided, Dean ending up with some heavy duty bandaging to the head.After the break, Potts and Hallawell came on for Dean and Rodney. The first chance of the half fell to Griffiths who saw his shot blocked by a defender.Walshaw should have made it 2-0 on 60 minutes but his shot was deflected for a corner. The first time in the match that FC tested a keeper was when Dodds’s attempted clearance was gathered safely by Wharton on 69 minutes:To be fair, United had the best of the last quarter. Sharp had several shots that went wide or over the bar, and Ennis had a couple of good chances that were blocked.Joyce came on for Linney as FC kept up the pressure but it was too little, too late. FC hustled and bustled but they lacked ideas and there were far too many wayward balls.Website man of the match: Wharton. The fact our goalkeeper was man of the match, despite his mistake that led to the goal, speaks volumes for FC’s performance.Report by Nick Duckett