Leek Town and FC United of Manchester met for the first time in a competitive fixture and it was the visitors who claimed the spoils coming from behind to clinch a 2-1 victory to continue the Blues home woes this season, with all the goals coming in the first half.

The crowd of 929 was Leeks biggest of the season so far and was swelled by both a sizeable and very vocal following from Manchester but both sets of supporters impeccably observed a minutes silence before kickoff to mark Remembrance weekend.

Leek started the game quickly and Tyreece Onyeka forced a couple of early corners with some direct running down the right and this set the tone of the opening 20mins which the Blues completely dominated.

The Blues should have had more to show for it than the one goal which came on 9mins when Owen Windsor took advantage of hesitancy in the FCUM defence in dealing with a ball played over the top and forced a mistake from Jan Palinkas with the ball coming off Windsors legs and beyond keeper Conor O’Keefe into the net.

Onyeka was continuing to see a lot of the ball and causing full back Matt Grivoski some real problems but the speedy winger’s end product was disappointing with his crosses always seeming to pick out a red shirt. On the one occasion he did find a team mate it should have resulted in a second goal. Onyekas low ball in after 19mins found Ollie Shenton in the six yard box but with his back to goal. He however laid the ball back to Tom Scully, starting a game for the first time this season, but his side footed effort rippled the side netting on the wrong side as far as the Blues fans were concerned.

And, as so happens, Leek were made to pay for this just a minute later. FCUM had shown very little up to this point but from nowhere Gez Sithole picked up the ball and with a sudden burst of pace flew into the Blues penalty area where he was tripped by Liam Buckley and the penalty awarded. FCUM captain, Paul Ennis, making his 200th appearance for the side marked the occasion to convert the spot kick with ease and the scores were level after 20mins.

The equaliser seemed to deflate Leek and shift the momentum to the visitors who capitalised by going ahead on 26mins with a well worked goal. Ennis sprayed a long diagonal ball from left to right to pick out full back Joe Ferguson who showed great control to take it in one and get past a Blues defender to get to the byline before pulling the ball back to Sithole who hit it first time across goalkeeper Dino Visser into the far corner to make it 2-1.

Ex-professional Adam Le Fondre, who has played in the Premier League for Reading, almost immediately made it 3-1 for the visitors when he gained possession following the restart and touched the ball past two Leek players before hitting a 25yarder that flew narrowly wide of Vissers post. Ennis then nearly got his second of the game after 36mins when his turn deceived Onyeka and he was able to advance into the box from the left. With teammates waiting for the cross Ennis tried to beat Visser at his near post but the keeper was alert and able to push it wide for a corner.

This was taken short and whilst the Leek defence were able to deal with the resultant cross, when the ball was returned for a second time Jordan Buckley rise highest but his header was just over the bar. The game had turned on its head and FCUM were in the ascendancy but in the lead up to half time Leek gradually started to come into things a little more, primarily due to Onyeka who won a couple of corners. The first one led to a volleyed effort from Lucas Weir that looked goal bound but took a deflection that sent it wide whilst the second was also met by Weir but he could not keep his near post header down.

LEEK TOWN 1 - FC UNITED OF MANCHESTER 2 HT

There was a chance for both sides at the start of the second half. On 48mins Tom Curl won a corner for Town supporting a home attack from his full back position, and when this was swung in to a body of shirts an header was directed goalwards but lacked the power to beat O’Keefe.

The ball was immediately switched to the other end with Sithole running at the Leek defence. He teed up Ennis who dinked the ball over to the far post where Declan McLoughlin had a free header. Visser somehow managed to push this away flying to his right with McLoughlins follow up effort from the rebound striking the outside of the post to give the Blues a lucky escape.

It was the first of three top drawer saves that Visser would make during the second half to keep his side in the game as FCUM created the clearer chances with some incisive attacks. On 53mins he was equal to a piledriver from Ennis with the Leek defence then scrambling away the loose ball whilst on 69mins he produced an even better save somehow getting down low to his left to tip away Buckley right footed effort when a goal looked certain.

In contrast, Leek’s attacks were becoming laboured, with slow build up and the ball often played in front of a line of red shirts or knocked long where Windsor, and his later replacement Max Woodcock, stood no chance against the two tall centre halves. It was only Onyeka that was able to stretch the visiting defence and he came close to equalising on 56mins when his deflected shot looked to be looping into the far corner but O’Keefe quickly back peddled and managed to get the ends of his fingers on the ball to tip it over.

The FCUM goalkeeper produced a similar save after 61mins. Onyeka was fouled on the left edge of the area and Weirs delivery looked to be heading for the far corner but O’Keefe was able to tip it away for a corner which the keeper then punched away under pressure.

There was a flurry of substitutes for both sides one of which saw the return of Alex Hurst for the Blues who had been missing since the Kidderminster FA Cup tie. He was however unable to produce any of the magic he had shown in that game and Leek were now struggling to threaten the FCUM defence from open play and becoming reliant on a set piece to retrieve the game.

The equaliser nearly came on 74mins when Adam Porter got a backward header onto Weirs free kick in from the left but the ball dropped agonisingly a foot wide of the post. Unfortunately that was as close as Leek came with FCUM comfortably keeping their opponents at bay and running down the clock for the remainder of the game to achieve their victory.

LEEK TOWN 1 - FC UNITED OF MANCHESTER 2 FT

REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

Match Photos Courtesy of Jim Booth HERE

The Blues are back on the road next week with a short trip to Ashton United.