An 87th minute penalty was all that stood between Avro and a second successive preseason triumph, on an otherwise hugely encouraging night at the Vestacare against a strong Radcliffe side.
It is not unusual for matches at this very early stage of teams’ campaigns to be rather disjointed affairs, which can also be lacking in tempo. However, thankfully this encounter was very much the exception to the rule – there may not have been a steady stream of clear cut chances created, but both sets of players held nothing back and the pace was therefore relentless.
Joe Rathbone had the first decent effort on goal after a quarter of an hour, but his well struck shot from just outside the area flew narrowly over the bar. However, ten minutes before the break it was his brother Sam who broke the deadlock, bundling the loose ball home from close range after Geffry Ebhote’s powerful header from a corner had been well saved.
Both sides made wholesale changes at the interval, with the experienced Jem Karacan and Nicky Adams entering the field of play for the visitors. Adams and fellow midfielder Luca Navarro became increasingly influential as the half wore on, but Radcliffe still struggled to break down our well-organised rear guard until just before the end, when the former Latics midfielder was felled in the box by Ebhote, and Bobby Grant made no mistake from the spot.
So a disappointing end to the match for Alex Frost’s new-look side, but given the quality of the opposition, there were still plenty of positives to draw from the ninety minutes overall.
