Slick Villa Grab Road Victory

<p>A solid team performance saw the Villa come away with a good victory at local rivals Lostock St. Gerards.

<p>The visitors started brightly with plenty of possession and forward thrust. An early forage down the left flank saw Davies flash a cross-shot across goal, with Gutteridge just missing the final touch. A reverse of this play brought the game's opening goal as persistence from Gutteridge saw him sweep by two opponents before squaring for Davies to fire home from close range.

<p>McPhail was next to try his luck, dipping a 20 yard effort just over the bar after good work from Jones and Walton to bring the ball out of defence.

<p>Lostock began to probe woth long balls over the Villa defence, though this tactic looked to be venturing towards a dead-end when a mix-up between 'keeper and full-back gifted the home-side's forward a free run on goal which was easily converted to level the scores just befoe the half.

<p>The game opened up in the second half as Villa looked to push forward and make their posession advantage count. Hawkey began to dictate the flow in midfield and Villa were unlucky not to grab a second after Gutteridge saw his shot on the turn blocked.

<p>Stack was called upon on the hour, blocking well from a low drive after good combination play from the home side.

<p>Villa made changes on the hour mark, bringing on the tricky Cobham down the right-hand side. The swap paid dividends with 15 minutes to go as Stewart floated a delightful ball over the top of the defence to Cobham. His cushioned first touch was swifly followed by a hammer into the corner of the net for the lead.

<p>McPhail made sure with 5 minutes to go, collecting a pass from the marauding Ayres before driving a peach of a shot into the goal via the woodwork to seal victory.

<p>A pleasing game for all, but especially so for the visitors who were able to add goals and a sense of menace in the oposition final third to the classy build-up play of previous games.