Fairbank United under 18s kicked off the season with a victory after a superb second half display. The starting 11 was different to the usual one, as midfielders Ahsan and Basit were not available and there was also some new faces in the squad. The lads got off to a dream start as Hasan smashed home an unstoppable effort from the edge of the area, after a quickly taken corner. However the rest of the half proved to be a struggle as the team seemed to switch off. Tigers got a well-deserved equaliser midway through the half as Hameed failed to rush off his line and gifted their striker with the simplest of finishes. Fairbank responded brilliantly as Larry was played through but he blasted his shot off the Post and out. The game was tied going into the break.
Fairbank started the second half positively and looked dangerous going forward. Abbas wasted a few glorious chances due to his woeful shooting. However they soon took the lead, as Larry expertly beat two defenders, before setting up Nav the debutant, who rifled the ball into the top corner. Tigers came close to equalising but Amir was on hand to clear the ball off the line, somewhat controversially. Larry soon got Fairbanks 3rd and 4th as he got his tally off the mark. Dimi came off the bench and caused a few problems for the tigers defence. Sohail finally got his goal towards the end as he slotted past the keeper inside the area.
The defence put on a solid performance today and in the end Fairbank were the deserved winners. A good start to the season but much more tougher tests to come, as they look foward to clashing with Burley next week.
