It was a disappointing afternoon for Avro in what was their final fixture of 2024. After a lengthy delay due to a medical incident in the stand, the referee decided the conditions weren’t sufficient to continue with the remaining half an hour.
Avro headed into this Boxing Day clash looking to return to winning ways after their recent run of form was ended last week in a 2-0 defeat against Atherton Collieries. They had a golden chance to go ahead within the first 5 minutes of the match as Sam Rathbone played a ball forward to Benito Lowe who brought the ball down and turned well towards goal. However, his resulting shot was just wide of the post.
In the first 15 minutes, Avro enjoyed most of the possession but failed to create any clear chances since the early opportunity for Benito Lowe. Trafford soaked up the pressure well and looked to hit Avro on the counter at every given opportunity. This counter resulted in a series of corners for Trafford, but they failed to create anything from these set-pieces.
In the 16th minute, Avro once again thought that they had taken the lead, a header by Jack Morrow looked destined to end up in the back of the net but Sam Booth produced a great stop in the Trafford goal to parry it over the bar.
Trafford began to grow into the game and created opportunities from the promising spell. Rio Clegg was played through on goal, and he went down under the pressure of James Dwyer, but these penalty claims were swiftly waved away by the referee. Soon after, Trafford found themselves a goal to the good. Grant Shenton made a great initial great save, but the rebound fell to the path of Cian Donohue who made no mistake in converting this strike.
This saw Avro head into the break undeservedly behind as they had controlled the majority of possession and had two or three great chances at goal. However, it was Trafford who headed into the break 1-0 up.
As conditions worsened in the second half, Trafford doubled their lead almost instantly. Rio Clegg was played through on goal and he calmy chipped the ball over Grant Shenton to put Trafford 2-0 up. This gave Avro a mountain to climb if they were to take anything from this game.
Unfortunately, on the hour mark, there was a lengthy delay in play due to a medical incident in the stands. Supporters and staff from both sides provided medical attention as we waited for the arrival of the Ambulance. Everyone at Avro FC would like to wish a speedy recovery to the individual affected and hope to see them back at the Vestacare Stadium soon.
After a short inspection, the referee decided that the fog was impacting visibility too much and deemed this unplayable. This saw the game abandoned on the hour mark. A rescheduled date will be announced as soon as we have it.
Next up, Avro make the short trip to Mossley on New Year’s day looking to start 2025 off to the best possible start.
