30 January 2012

 

Sky Sports News spent Sunday morning with VMFC as part of a special report on homophobia in sports but their cameras could only capture a defeat as Village lost to last season's champions, Miam Miam Celtic.

 

by Village Manchester FC

 

 

After following Craig and Simon's preparations for the match at home, reporter Peter Stevenson followed the team down to their home venue in Wythenshawe and spoke to manager Antony Lockley and Jason McAuley.

 

Sadly the cameras couldn't inspire Village to victory, as they let a 2-1 lead slip into a 4-2 defeat. 

 

After the team were grateful to Nordon for a stunning save moments earlier, Damien Mooney opened the scoring after half an hour, delivering a cushioned header after Jay McNaught's volleyed cross from the left. A Pete Ransom own goal brought the scores level shortly after half time before Village again took the lead in controversial fashion. Simon Ramsden scored from a corner but only after the referee had blown his whistle for handball against a Miam defender. Apparently choosing to keep all of the players on the pitch, the referee awarded the goal rather than a penalty and sending off.

 

Unfortunately Village couldn't cope with their opponents' onslaught in the final half hour and Miam's usual strength from set pieces and headers put them ahead before capitalising on a misplaced pass in the final minutes to wrap the game up 4-2.

 

The defeat makes it very hard for Village to now challenge for the title and the rest of the season will be about fighting to match last season's second place finish.

 

Sky's report is due to air in February.

 

Earlier in the week, Village spoke to online newspaper Mancunian Matters about our thoughts on the BBC3 documentary, "Britain's Gay Footballers", which airs on January 30th at 9pm. You can view the article here.

 

We'd also like to thank Jon from Halcyon Magazine for spending time with the team on both Thursday and Sunday. Halcyon is a new men's magazine focusing on sport and popular culture and their next issue will feature an article on VMFC and our thoughts on how best to progress the fight for sexual equality and openness in football.