A TOUGH trip to Manchester awaited the Wirral U14s after a good win in Wigan the previous week, writes Matty Houghton.

A 4-3-3 formation was lined up to face this Manchester team, like Wirral have only lost one so far this season.

The next round in the North West Cup was at stake and it was Wirral who made the early chances with Mikey Collins getting in one on one and firing a shot at the keeper to which the Manchester keeper did well to save and hold.

A good move down the left after ten minutes saw Joe Povall find Ben Williams with a lofted pass on the edge of the box.

Ben chested and volleyed and the keeper was again on form to tip the well hit shot just over the bar.

From a free kick by Nick Walsh, Liam McDonald headed just over and the chances were coming thick and fast due to the effort, pace and quality the Wirral lads were showing.

Manchester struggled to get out of their own half.

Excellent pressurising from Sean Fields saw their defenders lose the ball with Peter Schiller then finding Sean Fields on the edge of the box, he smashed the ball against the cross bar.

Manchester then had a counter attack and after mix up from Ben Kerr and Brad Pyper their striker was clear he rounded Tom Douglas to hit the ball into an empty net.

Luckily for Wirral, Liam McDonald was their to clear off the line just at the right time.

Mikey Collins was in again after good work from Nick Walsh, again their keeper saved his effort.

With another counter attacked from Manchester their wide player cut inside from a wide angle and struck a shot into the bottom left corner.

It came as a shock to Wirral but it was good to see their character to fight back and get back in the game. 

SCORE: 1-0

Five minutes later Ben Williams beat his man out wide and ran into the box and was clipped and it was a clear penalty.

Nick Walsh stepped upto fire the ball into the top right hand corner of the Manchester goal 1-1.

During the half time break both Matty and Tim told the players to continue their high pressing and keep their passing to a premium, as they were by far the stringer team the first half.

Wirral stayed on top the second half and the passing from left to right keeping possession then in the final third quick play was a pleasure to watch.

It wasn't long before Wirral had a corner which was whipped in by Sean Fields.

Kian Hughes made the keeper uncomfortable which enabled Liam McDonald from a tight angle on the back post to hit his shot into the roof of the net.

SCORE: 1-2

Wirral saved their best goal for last and saw Ben Kerr win the ball deep in his own half. He brought it forward and played the ball to Mikey Collins out wide on the half way line.

His chip to Leighton Clarke on the centre spot saw him take a touch then knock the ball through two central defenders to find Joe Povall who had made a 50-yard run to get involved in the action.

He took one touch then half volleyed it from the edge of the box into the near corner.

SCORE: 1-3

With ten minutes to go, Manchester piled the pressure onto Wirral and although they defended really well throughout were unable to stop their tricky midfielder sneaking through to toe poke the ball under Jack Mine.

Wirral held out and this was the best performance from the team this year against tough opposition who some considered favourites for the North West Cup.

Man of the match: Ben Kerr