FC Isle of Man put in an assured performance on Friday evening to overcome a tricky Colne side 0-2.
With the game being played in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, rather than Colne, neither side could truly be said to carry home advantage into the game which saw the Ravens avenge December’s 0-2 home loss.
Colne started the quicker and pushed the Ravens back into their own half in the first couple of minutes, but the way the Ravens dealt with that early pressure really set the tone for a confident defensive display.
Charlie Higgins was the first to go close for either side in just the third minute as he danced through challenges to create space on the edge of the box, but he could only drag his effort wide, much to the relief of Charlie Monk in the Colne goal.
The Ravens had the best efforts of the first 12 minutes of the game, but real chances were difficult to come by, even with Ste Whitley testing Monks with an effort from the edge of the box.
Killey would be called into action just after the 11th minute as Colne worked a good move from right to left but Killey dived down to his right and got a strong hand to Loui Williams’ effort to put it out for a corner.
The Ravens continued to push for a breakthrough throughout the half, but Charlie Higgins was unfortunate to see two efforts off target, while Al Maitland’s and Tiernan Garvey’s efforts didn’t really threaten Monks in the Colne goal.
It did look like the Ravens would go into the break a goal down as a Colne corner saw a scramble in the box, with huge appeals from Colne that it had crossed the line, but the officials couldn’t be sure, with the Ravens using up one of their nine lives (cats, ravens, same thing) to go in level at the break.
The second half saw Paul Jones’ side take control and impress themselves on Colne, with Dan Hattersley doing a tremendous amount of selfless running and work to keep the Colne backline occupied.
A breakthrough would finally come on in the 63rd minute when Tiernan Garvey’s shot hit an arm and the referee showed no hesitation in awarding the penalty.
Jack McVey stepped up and showed his usual confidence to stutter his runup and fire home to give the Ravens a well-deserved one-goal lead.
Higgins nearly doubled that lead when Callum Sherry played an exquisite ball into him and when through on goal and faced with the option of shooting or squaring, he picked the former and hit the post.
The maverick Higgins would finally get his goal to secure the win when he met a Ste Whitley corner and headed home to make it 0-2 to the Ravens.
Colne tried to find a way back into the game but found a resolute Ravens backline with Maitland and Kelly winning every aerial duel and Killey putting in a commanding display in his box.
As the clock ticked down, the amazing travelling support was in full voice and as usual Paul Jones and his players came across to thank the fans for their vocal support.
Next up for the Ravens are Barnoldswick Town at 3pm this afternoon.
