Lairds mark anniversary

Sep 5 2007 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

Cammell Laird2

Sheffield FC0

BOTH clubs exchanged gifts to mark each other's anniversaries prior to the start of this FA Cup Preliminary Round fixture.

The Sheffield club were celebrating 150 years and their place in history as the first football club in the world, while Lairds are mere whippersnappers marking their 100th anniversary.

Pleasantries were then firmly put to one side in what was a close and hard-fought first period, John Collins going close for the Lairdsmen and Leon Wainman heading off the line for The Club.

Matt Rooney forced a fine save from Leon Bimpson in the Lairds goal and minutes later Karl Colley say his header glance over the bar for Sheffield.

Lairds had most of the possession in the second half, but Sheffield's big back four kept the scoresheet clean.

Ian Cooke and John Corrigan went close for Lairds, while The Club had their moments with close calls for Tome Jones and Robert Ward.

Lairds strength and tenacity saw them through 10 minutes from time when sub Joey Gibiliyu pounced on a Corrigan cross to thunder the ball home from 20 yards out.

The Birkenhead men wrapped up the game with two minutes to go, Corrigan being rewarded for his efforts when he tapped in as Gibiliru's shot rebounded back off the post.

Lairds reward is a trip to UniBond Premier Radcliffe Borough in the first qualifying round.

On Saturday, Lairds are once again up against Sheffield FC – this time away from home when Lairds hope to go top of the UniBond League Division One South.

Wednesday night football comes to Kirklands next week when Lairds play host to Alsager Town, kick-off at 7.45pm.

Lairds are launching a brand new website in the next few weeks, which means that the current site is down. In the meantime, log oto the temporary website at www.clfcforum.cjb.net