FC IOM punished by ruthless Prestwich Heys

Visiting side score three second-half goals to hand Ravens defeat

FC Isle of Man have tasted defeat again as they went down 3-0 to Prestwich Heys in the NWCFL Premier Division at The Bowl this evening (17 September).

Both teams looked ahead to the Saturday night clash hoping to return to winning ways after they’d separately suffered defeats in their previous respective league outings.

An uneventful and cagey first half saw the two sides rarely threaten the opposing goal, with FC IOM goalkeeper, Dean Kearns, and Prestwich Heys stopper, Russell Saunders, seeing little action.

Arguably, the Manx outfit’s clearest opportunity of the first 45 came in the 29th minute when Ste Whitley fizzed an effort just over the crossbar from six yards after a wicked cross from the left from Charlie Higgins.

Meanwhile, Prestwich Heys’ closest moment of the first period came in first-half stoppage time when Dylan Fitzgerald diverted a shot under Kearns after a low cross from the right, only to see the ball cleared off the line by Ravens defender, Sam Caine.

After a goalless first half, both sides emerged for the second period and as the intense stalemate continued, Prestwich Heys finally found the breakthrough in style on 52 minutes.

Fitzgerald found space to cut inside from the left wing before unleashing an unstoppable right-footed drive into the roof of Kearns’ net from around 18 yards.

Reeling from conceding, FC IOM found themselves 2-0 down just four minutes later when a deflected Prestwich Heys effort on goal fell to visiting midfielder Kai Haigh who, from the edge of the area, calmly slotted a low strike into Kearns’ bottom left corner.

With ground to make up, FC Isle of Man continued to push relentlessly for a way back into the game but struggled to test Saunders in the away side’s net as Prestwich Heys expertly kept the hosts at bay.

With time running out, Prestwich Heys then made sure of the three points in the 90th minute.

A long clearance from an FC IOM attack fell to Prestwich Heys striker, Matthew Davies, on the half way line, and he proceeded to control the ball and shrug off his marker to charge through at goal one-on-one with Kearns, and Davies made no mistake stroking the ball low past Kearns to make it 3-0.

The result leaves FC Isle of Man 15th in the league standings on ten points - their next game will be away against Irlam on Tuesday night (20 September), kicking-off at 7.45pm.