26^th December 2022, Runcorn Linnets FC v City of Liverpool FC : 0-2 Sponsored by Kyle Harrison

A bumper Boxing Day crowd of 790 took a break from the Christmas dinner leftovers and rolled up at the APEC Taxis Stadium, the great majority looking for an improvement on the lacklustre Linnets performance which had slavaged a scarcely-deserved point at Widnes nine days earlier.

The hosts faced another bottom-three side in City of Liverpool, who they had beaten away from home in a stirring Liverpool Senior Cup tie less than a month ago, despite spending most of the second half with ten men after the harsh dismissal of Sean O'Mahony. 

They would also finish this game a man down, after Louis Hayes saw red 15 minutes from time, but this time they failed to take anything from it.  

There were clear seasonal echoes of the plot of A Christmas Carol, as the Pitching In Northern Premier League West's most miserly defence had a sudden change of heart, and allowed waves of second-half attacks by a CoLFC side they had dominated throughout the first.

If not for 'keeper Danny Taberner maintaining some Scrooge-like meanness, with a string of great saves, the final score might have been an embarrassment. 

Linnets faced the purple-clad CoLFC in their orange away kit, in support of Shelter's 'No Home Kit' homelessness awareness campaign, and accentuated the break from normality with a novel approach to shirt numbering. 

Centre-backs Tom Moore and Sam Heathcote, with O'Mahony absent on festive home leave, wore 8 and 10 respectively, while right-back Ally Brown wore 5, and holding midfielders Louis Hayes and Lewis Doyle sported 2 and 6.

As it turned out, the tactical revolution suggested by the numbering might have been worth a try. 

Linnets started with intent, and Dapo Olarewaju had a solid chance to open the scoring in the first minute. He hesitated to shoot, and was disarmed.

The home side quickly took control of possession, but it didn't yield another chance until the eighth minute, when Ally Brown's cross from the right was glanced across goal and out, from the head of Ryan Brooke.

City of Liverpool started to see more of the ball, but without developing anything resembling a chance, and the next one came back down at the Forest End. Ally Brown found Jamie Rainford in space in the area, in the 15th minute. But the bounce of the ball didn't allow Jamie to get his head behind it.

Two minutes later, Sam Heathcote headed into the six-yard area, from where Tom Moore found the net, but he was offside.

In the next minute, Liam Hollett conceded a corner under pressure from Ryan Brooke, and James Short's corner kick was glanced beyond the far post by Tom Moore. Linnets kept up the pressure, and Rainford looked certain to score from another Ally Brown cross, but he leaned back, and fired high.

The first 20 minutes saw one-way traffic, and it appeared to be only a matter of time until Linnets took the lead. It wasn't.

Brooke was hauled down in a central position, 22 yards from goal. Shorty opted to shoot low, but found a boot rather than a gap, as the defensive wall jumped. 

After a bout of both sides trying to surge forward but failing to break through, a powerful 27th-minute shot by Rainford from outside the area was saved well by Purps 'keeper Ben Barnes.

Then in a mad scramble for the ball in the six-yard area, none of the three Linnets present could get a decisive shot on it, and Barnes eventually held on.

Runcorn domination continued, but remained fruitless, and patience was clearly a required virtue.

Tom Moore's ball to Dapo inside the Purps' half failed to reach its target when the Linnets wide man was scythed down by Peter Wylie, earning last season's Runcorn captain the first yellow card of the game.

A great Dapo ball ahead of Jamie Rainford created the next chance, but Jack Hont managed to bundle the ball away from him for a corner. Barnes punched that away, as far as Ally Brown outside the area, where he was pushed in the back.

This time Shorty aimed his kick higher, but it rebounded clear from a body in the wall.

Ryan Brooke delivered a tricky shot from 22 yards, and Barnes did well to save it from its first bounce.

After 37 minutes, City of Liverpool won a rare corner, which was scrambled clear after Taberner's punch, and then another from Sam Heathcote's interception of a ball into the area from the right. Tabs caught that one cleanly.

Linnets returned to the attack, and Ally Brown had two chances to cross from the right, the second caught by Barnes.

The last couple of minutes of the half comprised the visitors' most sustained spell of possession so far, but the only resulting chance was a Nathan Burke shot from distance that ballooned way over the bar.

In the single minute added to the first half, Sidi Sanogo won a corner from the right. It was headed away from the near post, but a return ball into the area by Brown set up a Ryan Brooke bicycle kick. It was firm and on target, but Barnes pulled off another fine save.

It seemed implausible that Linnets had failed to take the lead by half-time. But there would be far more head scratching over the improbability of the rest of the day's events as a first home defeat of the season for Linnets also brought City of Liverpool's third away win, from twelve attempts.

Linnets started the second half as they had the first, on the offensive, but evidence mounted that it was going to be 'one of those days'.

Liam Hollet was cautioned for a hefty foul on Lewis Doyle outside the left corner of the penalty area, and Ryan Brooke met the free-kick ten yards out, but for the fourth time, a promising header glanced wide of the far post.

Former Linnet Michael Simpson fired well wide from a chance on the break, and then a great one-two between Doyle and Brooke set up another powerful Rainford shot, which was met by another excellent save. 

All of CoLFC's attacking efforts had been on the break, and they became more frequent. A great saving tackle by James Short prevented Mitchley and Hazlehurst combining to score, and then a gift of a chance for Hazlehurst from the edge of the six-yard box was kept out by a brilliant reflex save from Tabs.

As the hour mark beckoned, there was a sense that a single moment of excellence, or an error, might decide a game that really should have been under the Runcorn thumb by then.

The opening goal came from a combination of error and accident. Sam Heathcote did well to divert another Hazlehurst shot for a corner. 

McGrath played a ball in from the right for the now ubiquitous Jack Hazlehurst, and he opted to test Tabs with power. He mishit the shot completely, but the ball skewed left across the area, and ricocheted off the standing foot of Kevin Ellison, and flew into the bottom left corner. 

Ellison had scored by accident, but the error lay in the fact that he was alone in acres of space in the area.

Danny Shaw replaced Jack Hont, and Eden Gumbs was introduced in place of Sidi Sanogo. Eden instantly joined in with urgent Runcorn attempts to get back on terms, pressing the Purps defence up the left, as Dapo aimed to do likewise up the right. 

The visitors defended stoutly, and cleared to mount more assaults on the break, which were always going to be a threat with so many orange bodies surging forwards for an equaliser.

Both goalkeepers absorbed a couple of attempts either way, and a Dapo flick into the area was met by a Ryan Brooke shot from near the penalty spot. It just cleared the bar, but Brooky was penalised for a foul on Jack Hont anyway. One of those days indeed.

One Purps attack was repelled, but an immediate second wasn't. 

A long ball up the middle found Mitchley, just outside the area, where he was fouled by Ally Brown. But referee Jonathan Wyatt played advantage, with the Linnets defence outnumbered three-to-two.

An easy finish for John McGrath gave City of Liverpool a frankly implausible 2-0 lead, based on the balance of the first 70 minutes.

Linnets are no strangers to a spirited comeback, but a turnaround this time seemed unlikely.

Their Boxing Day efforts had become reminiscent of my favourite Laurel & Hardy film, The Music Box, in which Stan and Ollie try to deliver a piano to a house at the top of a steep hill. The harder they try, the more frustrating the outcome.

With 15 minutes remaining, the Runcorn piano hurtled back down the hill, when Louis Hayes received a straight red card for a clattering challenge on Ellison.  

Linnets kept trying, and a Short cross was volleyed just over the bar once more by Brooke. Groans from the fans were limited, as disappointment had become almost inevitable.

The Purps saw no need to put eleven men behind the ball against ten, as attacking on the break had served them so well, and Taberner was preventing the opposition from racking up a hatful, as his opposite number Barnes had done throughout the first hour.

Tabs pulled off another great stop when Burke's shot was otherwise unchallenged.

With seven minutes remaining, Ellison was away on a solo run from another long clearance, and James Short took a yellow card for the team, tripping him from behind.

The free-kick was taken almost three minutes later, as that was how long it took Hazlehurst to tiptoe across the width of the pitch, to be replaced by Kenny Stickland.

But there was little point in complaining about time wasting at the end of a game that third-from-top should have long since put out of the reach of third-from-bottom. 

Tabs punched away the corner that resulted from the eventual free-kick.

Two minutes from time, a battle up the left waged by Short and Gumbs provided a cross for Ryan Brooke to shoot: on target this time, but saved by Barnes.

Mr Wyatt's addition of six minutes, while justified, felt like torture. Another great save by Taberner prevented Ellison from adding a third goal to the away tally.

Linnets forged two more attacks in numbers, but neither created a meaningful attempt on goal, and the NPL West's last unbeaten home record was gone.

      Linnets' next outing will involve the short journey to their former adopted home of Wincham Park, on New Year Bank Holiday Monday, to face Witton Albion.

The completion of a league double over their one-time landlords, who were convincing 4-1 Boxing Day winners over 1874 Northwich, will be required to prevent the festive programme from being the dampest of mid-season squibs.

Runcorn Linnets:Danny Taberner, Louis Hayes, James Short, Sidi Sanogo Fofana (Eden Gumbs, 63), Ally Brown, Lewis Doyle, Dapo Olarewaju, Tom Moore, Jamie Rainford, Sam Heathcote, Ryan Brooke. Subs not used: Macaulay Clifton, Josh Roberts, Zack Clarke, Louis Holden. 

Attendance:790.

NB. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Runcorn Linnets FC or its Board.