FC Isle of Man beaten late on by Stockport Town

Raven's winless run stretches to three games

FC Isle of Man's winless run stretched to three games as they went down to a late 2-1 defeat against Stockport Town in the NWCFL Premier Division this evening (14 December).

'The Ravens' led against the run of play in the first half through a point-blank Sean Doyle header on 21 minutes.

An energetic Stockport Town levelled in the 64th minute through a well-placed Keane Barugh strike from 20 yards.

The visitors then snatched the win with five minutes of normal time remaining as Ethan Padden tapped home after a counter-attack from an FC Isle of Man corner.

Tonight's encounter at The Bowl saw FC Isle of Man hoping to bounce back from a late loss at AFC Liverpool two weeks ago with Stockport Town hoping to end a recent poor run of one win in their last five outings.

The visiting side started brightly but found themselves behind on 21 minutes when a floated cross from the right from FC Isle of Man's Ste Whitley on the edge of the box found Doyle at the back post who nodded home from one yard out to open the scoring.

FC Isle of Man nearly doubled their advantage two minutes later only for Dean Pinnington to send his effort one-on-one with Stockport goalkeeper Joshua Schofield over the crossbar.

With 33 minutes gone a whipped cross from the left from Stockport's Joshua Edwards found striker Daniel McLaughlin from around ten yards who saw his header cannon off the post.

On the stroke of half-time FC Isle of Man went close again as a Pinnington free-kick from the left found Jacob Crook whose looping header was acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by Schofield.

Six minutes into the second half the woodwork was struck again, this time as Padden released Edwards for Stockport Town down the left who chipped an effort over Ravens stopper Adam Killey only to be denied by the crossbar.

As the pressure mounted on the FC Isle of Man defence, their opponents found a breakthrough shortly after the hour mark.

With space on the edge of the penalty area, Barugh saw his initial shot blocked before gathering the rebound and curling an effort under Killey into the bottom corner to level the contest.

With the game finely-balanced in the closing stages, Stockport Town struck the killer blow in the 85th minute.

From an FC Isle of Man corner a blistering counter-attack from Stockport Town substitute Darren Ehimamiegho down the left saw him charge into the box before squaring a pass which deflected into the onrushing Padden to tap into an empty net from a few yards out to see the away side claim all three points.

Man of the match Alex Maitland spoke to Sports Editor Rob Pritchard following the defeat:

FC Isle of Man's next match will be away against Lower Breck on Saturday, 21 December, kicking-off at 1.30pm.

Man of the Match: Alex Maitland (FC Isle of Man)