Words: Ben Nixon, Images: David Airey
CHORLEY rounded off their pre-season friendlies on Tuesday evening with a well-rounded and strong, 2-0 win against a youthful Manchester City XI at the Grant Store Victory Park Stadium.
Manchester City started the better of the two sides in fairness, dominating possession and showing real creativity down the left flank, which resulted in a powerful strike testing Matt Urwin early on.
The Blues continued to challenge the Magpies' defence, with a City midfielder drawing a foul in a great position just outside the box. However, the resulting free kick was fired over the bar.
Chorley fought hard to stay in the game, maintaining their positions without the ball to prevent City from creating any real chances of note to test Urwin in goal.
The Magpies' first real chance came 20 minutes into the half when Trialist A whipped in an enticing ball that was met by Mark Ellis, who couldn’t keep his headed down as it went over the bar.
Mark Ellis heads over for the Magpies (David Airey)
Andy Preece's side withstood another long period without possession but managed to break hard on the counter when Jacob Holland-Wilkinson headed narrowly over from a Mike Calveley cross, which would have finished a silky move from the hosts.
The visitors then had a few chances of their own just before the half-time whistle. Some superb interplay resulted in a whipped cross finding an attacker at the far post, who connected well with the ball, but his shot flew past Matt Urwin’s post, keeping the game level at the break.
City were quick out of the blocks for the second half, enjoying the majority of the possession and looking to carve an opening to put themselves in front.
With nearly 70 minutes on the clock, Chorley’s Trialist A received the ball on the touchline, took on the City defenders, and cut inside to shoot hard and low, beating the keeper to give the Magpies the lead.
Just minutes later, a perfectly weighted pass from Holland-Wilkinson found Chorley’s Trialist B on the edge of the box. His shot was parried by the keeper but looped high and landed in the back of the City goal, doubling the advantage.
Chorley managed to keep out City's late attempts to secure the 2-0 win in the Magpies' last pre-season fixture before the start of the National League North season, where they'll take on Peterborough Sports, away, this Saturday.
