Our most familiar opposition of the season rolled up to Queen's Park to face Villa today. Rainford Rangers have proved to be very strong in our previous meetings, and we were expecting much of the same from them again. Having ran Rainford close in our last meeting, we were hoping for a similar performance today, or perhaps even an improvement on the 4-0 and 2-0 losses they have inflicted upon us. Despite our expectations, we kept the boys' feet on the ground and reminded them that Rainford are one of the best teams we've played this season and they deserve a bit of respect (not too much though!).

One of the most frequent terms used in football is "You don't change a winning team", and having recorded our first win of the season last week I would have liked to field the same starting line up. We suffered a blow in losing Ryan through illness, but we had a more than able deputy in Jacob Brown. The rest of the guys were also raring to go, and have found themselves a little unlucky to be on the bench, but this is only because others have been playing too well to drop. The squad as a whole is playing well at the moment, with everyone contributing to the cause.

The game kicked off, and it was Rainford who pushed forward early on. Our opponents had the lion's share of possession, but without creating many clear cut chances. This was down to the defensive efforts of our boys, who worked tirelessly to deny any time and space. In particular, Geoghegan and Brown were looking solid at the back, and Kyle Smith was covering every blade of grass from midfield. In response to their pressure we launched a couple of counter attacks of our own. In fairness, Rainford defended fantastically on the few occassions that we threatened. However, the attack were still showing that they did carry a threat and that we were capable of hurting them on the break. The half time whistle came with the score at 0-0, and I was delighted with the efforts at this stage.

A few changes were made at half time. Whitehead replaced Jones to combat the midfield threat of our opponents, and Vaughton came on for Corkish to freshen up the attack. The message to the boys was simple: more of the fighting spirit from the first half, and let's assert ourselves more in the attacking third!

The second half began as the first did, with the away side on the front foot. An incisive attack on the left wing resulted in the ball being fed into the right side of our penalty area. For the first time in the game we were unable to clear the danger, and Rainford punished us. The ball was smashed low and hard to make it 1-0 to the visitors. This really knocked the confidence of the guys, so we brought on King, Pennington, and Leyland to liven it up. They all contributed well to a fighting cause, with Pennington in particular making some brilliant challenges to deny their attack. Unfortunately though, two more soft goals made the game safe for Rainford with 5 minutes to go.

Disappointing for the Villa, but it was certainly not though a lack of trying. They fought to the end and eventually got a goal for their efforts. Villa poured forward and a scramble inside the penalty area resulted in the ball breaking for Lewis Vaughton. A very composed finish gave him his 3rd goal in just 5 appearances this season.

In the end though, the result was a fair one. Rainford deserved their win, but Villa deserved at least a goal from the game. We can take a lot of heart from another determined performance against a good team. Today's man of the match award goes to Kyle Smith; he was the only outfield player who didn't get a rest, but his level of energy throughout the game never dipped. Keep up the work guys, and let's try and get back on the winning track in the coming weeks!

St.Helens Town Villa Starting Line-Up (2-2-2):

Jack Richmond; Jacob Brown, Garry Geoghegan; Sam Jones, Kyle Smith; Reece Corkish (c), Joseph Dixon

Substitutes:

Callum King, Lewis Vaughton, Joshua Leyland, Jack Pennington, Joel Whitehead

Half Time Score: 0-0

Full Time Score: 1-3

Goal Scorers: Lewis Vaughton