Runcorn Town left Valerie Park with all three points in a match which saw the Reds play for almost the entire second half with just nine men.

A goal down and a man down at the break, following Neil Jones’ dismissal, AFC Liverpool lost Phil Stafford when he collected his second yellow card with less than a minute gone in the second half.
Jason Carey added to Mark McGrath’s opener to put the visitors in a commanding position but AFC Liverpool almost grabbed an unlikely draw. Patrick O’Driscoll stooped to nod into an empty net seven minutes from time and then John Kennedy just failed to get onto the end of a James Thomas free kick in injury time.
Runcorn started the game looking to get forward quickly but it was the home side who had the best of the early chances. Aaron Stafford had Daniel Dalton in trouble as he failed to deal with a high ball but the Reds’ striker couldn’t capitalise. Stafford then robbed Darren Kinsey of the ball on the halfway line and bore down on goal but opted to find David Mather when an effort on target may have been the better option. The visitors were then inches away from falling behind when Steve Corris’ cross came back of the post with keeper Karl Wills beaten.
On twenty seven minutes McGrath gave Runcorn the lead when James McShane’s cross found him unmarked in the six yard box and he had the simple task of guiding the ball into the back of the net.
Five minutes later Aaron Stafford had a wonderful opportunity to grab an equaliser. Latching onto Mather’s ball over the top, he lined himself up to place the ball into the far corner but struck his effort too straight and the ball flew past the upright. The Reds’ striker then came even closer to scoring when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box but his volley was a foot the wrong side of the post.
A minute later the Reds were down to ten men when Jones was adjudged to have brought down McShane, denying him a clear goalscoring opportunity and the referee wasted no time in producing the red card.
If the task of getting back into the match seemed difficult as the referee blew to start the second half, it was even more so forty seconds later as Phil Stafford’s rash challenge saw him leave the field of play.
With the two man advantage the visitors looked to stretch the play and bide their time but to AFC Liverpool’s credit they remained disciplined and restricted Runcorn to a few half chances with only McGrath forcing Jack Baker into a save.
On seventy minutes Carey seemed to have put the result to bed when he smashed home from eight yards after the Reds’ defence failed to deal with Stephen Latham’s cross.
Throughout the half the Reds had refused to let their heads drop and pressed at every opportunity. They finally got their reward when O’Driscoll scored his first goal for the club after Thomas’ inswinging free kick deceived Wills and had Kennedy got any purchase on Thomas’s injury time dead ball delivery then it would have been quite a comeback.

AFC Liverpool 1-2 Runcorn Town
O’Driscoll 83′                McGrath 27′ Carey 70′
Attendance:154

AFC Liverpool: 1.Jack Baker 2.Callum Tai-Hogan 3.Darren Torpey 4.Paddy O’Driscoll 5.Neil Jones 6.Phil Stafford (C) 7.Karl Gornell 8.Kieran Quinn 9.Aarron Stafford (12.James Thomas 52′) 10.Steve Corris (14. Jack Sinnot 70′) 11.David Mather (15. John Kennedy 64′)
Unused Subs: 16.Conor Murphy 17.Mark Toohey

Runcorn Town: 1.Karl Wills 2.Stephen Latham (C) 3.Darren Kinsey (14.Warren Bellew 50′) 4.Marvin Molyneux 5.Daniel Dalton 6.Gregory Byrne 7.Emini Adegbenro (15.Connor Anderson 76′) 8.Mark McGrath 9.Jason Carey 10.James McShane 11.Ian Robinson (16. Anthony Wynne 50′)
Unused Sub: 12.Chris Brown