FC Isle of Man grabbed their second win in style on Saturday after thrashing Cammell Laird 1907 FC 6-1 away.
The Ravens got off to a flyer with Luke Murray scoring in the opening minutes of the first-half. This set the tone for the rest of the game, as Cammell Laird were under high pressure from the get go as the Manx side created numerous chances that weren’t put away.
The surprise in the first half was to see only the one goal being scored as opportunities falling to Sean Doyle and Stephen Whitley forced the Cammell Laird keeper into making some miraculous saves to keep to score at 1-0.
After the break, it didn’t take long for The Ravens to double their lead though when main man, Murray, once again stepped up to put his side 2-0 up in the 46th minute with a neat finish into the bottom corner.
This second goal took away any nerves The Ravens may have had as they cruised through the second-half and managed to find the back of the net on several occasions.
A Chris Cannell leap in the 54th minute extended the lead after Jack McVey’s corner kick found the defender at the back post, his header taking a deflection as the ball went past a stranded goalkeeper.
The goals didn’t stop there, as Stephen Whitley found the back of the net in the 59th minute with a well-struck volley from outside the box, then this was followed shortly after by Jack McVey who made it a perfect five with an outstanding free-kick that was executed straight from the training ground, finding the top corner in the 65th minute.
The home side managed to bag a consolation goal in the 80th minute after The Ravens defence switched off allowing the home side to go through on goal. Dan Simpson however restored the five goal score line in the 90+1’ minute, as he brought the ball down on the left-hand-side and dribbled his way through on goal to put the icing on the cake for the Manx side.
Assistant Manager, Lee Dixon, spoke after the game and was pleased for the players who will have a well deserved break next week, saying: “I’m made up for the lads. We’ve had a difficult time in the last couple of weeks. But we could be standing here with a lot more points than we’re on.”
Not wanting to get carried away he continued, “The good news for the lads is they’ll be spending the next ten days running! We didn’t have a pre-season. We didn’t manage to get enough running in… [that’s] the difference between some of the better teams, you’d say they’ve probably been a little bit sharper than us and they probably got that from having a proper pre-season.”
The Ravens will continue with their preparations ahead of their next away game against Stockport Town on the 18th September.
