Despite Marine’s chairman blaming AFC Liverpool and criticising our administration, I would like to highlight the facts of this case.

Sean Doherty was signed by AFC Liverpool in November 2012 and subsequently played three games for us.

When Sean signed, he had not played for any team since 2011.

When any player signs for this club they have to complete a registration form. On this form it asks if the player requires international clearance. Sean said he did not. He had not signed for any club for two years.

At this time we did not know who his last club was. We’d no need to. He hadn’t signed for anyone this season and told us he didn’t need international clearance and signed to say so. It turned out Sean had played for Colwyn Bay of the Blue Square North.

I might add that, like Marine FC, we have also been fined £100 and are awaiting the outcome over point deductions from the North West Counties League Management Committee.

The player in question has been punished by the FA which tells its own story. AFC Liverpool are not to blame and are as innocent as Marine.

Chris Stirrup
Chairman
AFC Liverpool

The football camps will run over five weeks beginning 29th July and each course will last one week, from Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm.

They are open to both boys and girls of all abilities, ages 4 to 16 and the coaches will be supplied by AFC Liverpool, an FA Charter Standard club.

Held at Croxteth Comprehensive on Parkstile Lane, Croxteth, L11 0BD, there will be both indoor and outdoor facilities available and at the end of each week, medals and certificates will be awarded.

Each weekly course costs just £45 and includes a free t-shirt but if you can’t make the full week, then you can come along for one day (£20), two days (£30), three days (£35) or four days (£40).

The football camps will be a great way for your child/children to learn new skills, build their confidence, make new friends and keep fit, so why not fill in the form below now and get them signed up.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning that jackpot, you can choose your numbers for next week’s draw by filling in the form below. For £1, you get two chances to enter and all you have to do is choose six different numbers from 1 to 18.

All online entries must be received before midday (BST) Saturday 25th May 2013. Any entries received after that shall be included in the following week’s draw. Please note, each entry carries a small transaction fee.

If you want to make sure you included in every draw, then you can subscribe to the AFC Liverpool club lottery by clicking HERE

The Reds will face two North West Counties sides, Atherton Collieries and Chadderton, both of the First Division, on Tuesday 16th July and Saturday 20th July respectively.

The following weekend sees the Reds spend a couple of days in north Wales as they face Prestatyn Town, the 2013 Welsh Cup winners, on Saturday 27th before meeting Glantraeth of the Welsh Alliance League the following day.

Manager Paul Moore is looking to arrange two or three more games which will be posted as soon as they are confirmed.

The list so far is:

Tuesday 16th July: Atherton Collieries (A) 7.45pm
Saturday 20th July: Chadderton (A) 3pm
Saturday 27th July: Prestatyn Town (A) 3pm
Sunday 28th July: Glantraeth (A) 3pm

Photo courtesy of Dave Williams

Was it your best performance of the season?
Paul Moore: ‘To be fair we’ve played against a quality side today and we’ve matched them all over. It’s taken us about fifteen or twenty minutes to get what formation they were playing but once we’ve sorted that out, we’ve worked their keeper, got shots off and I thought we dominated the game. They could have possibly gone one nil up but they’ve missed the chance and they’ve had a lot of possession but they never really hurt us. It’s absolutely tremendous and I’m so, so proud.’

It’s quite an achievement beating the league champions of the division above you.
PM: ‘I’ve always said about my lads, when they play football they can really play. To go to Skelmersdale United, who put their full team out, who have just won their league by a comfortable margin, and win, then it’s some achievement and it’s a credit to these players. It’s a major achievement for this football club.’

You had a chance to get to the final and the players seized it with both hands.
PM: ‘We used today as a marker, using Skelmersdale and how well they won their league, and it tells me how far the players at this football club have come. People will look at this result and think ‘AFC Liverpool can’t be a bad side’ because Skelmersdale United are certainly a very good side.’

It’s a reward for all the hard work you yourself and the players have put in this season.
PM: ‘As manager of this football club, I take great, great pride in the achievements, especially this season from where we were last year. No-one gave us a cat in hell’s chance, as a football club alone, of lasting this long. On the aspect of the playing side of it, it’s credit to the players I’ve brought in. We’re still learning and there’s still progress to be made at this football club. To go and get into a major cup final at this level, it’s a massive stride taken and it’s a massive compliment to this football club. We’re only five years old and the Liverpool Senior Cup is many, many years old and you look at the teams that have won it and says a lot about the competition. Just to get into the final is a credit to the football club, the players and the staff we have around it at the moment.’

Is this your best achievement at the club so far?
PM: ‘Yes it is. I am very, very proud to be manager of AFC Liverpool, especially when days like this come along and I hope I have many, many more. Considering what I went through personally last year, because there was a lot of hurt with the way the season was panning out and and people questioning why I was still in the job, I can only thank the people that run this club – the members and the supporters. It’s only part of the progression at this moment in time but hopefully we’re going in the right direction. I always work hard for this football club and I’m proud of myself for turning it around but when I have people the likes of Jay Forshaw, Dave Innelli, John Lawless and Nick Browne around me, then I’m always going to have a chance.’

I know you’ve only just got there but you’ve got a great chance of claiming the Liverpool Senior Cup.
PM: ‘Yes, the opportunity is there. We’re ninety minutes from winning our first major trophy at this level. We’ve won the North West Counties First Division Trophy but to win the Liverpool Senior Cup will be a massive thing. Believe me I know because I won it as a player and I know what it meant to Southport at the time and it’s a big cup in its own right. We’ll be quietly confident going into the final and beating Bootlem as on any given day, if we perform, as today’s result has shown, we’ll not only give people a game but we’re likely to beat them.’

It’s going to give you something to focus on during the summer if the final is played in pre-season?
PM: Yeah it is, I said that in the Echo to be fair. I said it would be nice to get into the final for one thing and two, if you win the trophy then it will set you on the way into the new season with a winning mentality. As a club, as group of players, as set of staff we will go into it quietly confident and look to win the cup and if we do that, then we’ll be set on having a good league campaign.

‘I would like to finish off by saying I’m so, so, so happy for the supporters that turned up today. People have backed me and I just hoped they enjoyed today. It tells them that we not that far away and if we can keep this group of the players together, we can go marching on. We’re only in the cup final but it’s progression, so it’s one step at a time and we’ll have a look at the situation as we go. In the same breath though, I’m really, really happy with today’s performance and it’s nice to get compliments off a championship winning manager, Tommy Lawson, who’s been around a bit, who gave us the compliment that our performance deserved that result today.’

It took twenty or so minutes for the Reds to work out the home side’s formation, during which time Skelmersdale United failed to take a golden opportunity to take the lead when they missed an open goal, but after that they put in their best performance of the season and thoroughly deserved to book their place in the final.

AFC Liverpool took the lead just before the half hour when good work on the edge of the box between Morgan and John Lawless created the chance for Loughlin to get a shot on goal. Though his effort was saved, when the Skelmersdale United defence attempted to clear the ball, it hit Morgan and ended up in the back of the net.

Five minutes after that the Reds doubled their lead when a cross from Ionut’ Danny’ Cuciorva wasn’t properly cleared and the ball fell to Jones, who curled his effort into the top corner.

If a comeback by the home side looked a tall order at half time, eight minutes after the restart it looked nigh on impossible as Loughlin calmly slotted the ball home after Morgan’s cutback from the byline found the midfielder.

After that, the home side had a decent amount of possession but never really created anything that would hurt the Reds and indeed it was the men in red who could have had a fourth but for a bizarre refereeing decision. After Lawless had rounded the keeper, the United shotstopper hauled down the Reds’ captain but instead of pointing to the penalty spot, the referee awarded a free kick to the home side and booked Lawless for diving.

However, that decision didn’t affect the final outcome as the Reds comfortably saw out the remainder of the match to secure a famous victory and their place in the Liverpool Senior Cup final against fellow North West Counties Premier Division side Bootle.

Skelmersdale United 0-3 AFC Liverpool
Morgan 28′, Jones 32′, Loughlin 53′

Attendance: 161

Skelmersdale United: 1.Sam Ashton 2.Shaun McCartney 3.Shaun Holden 4.Tom Hardwick (C) 5.Rob McIntosh 6.Dale Wright 7.Paul Woolcott 8.Ken Strickland 9.Matty Hughes (17.Adam Morning 59′) 10.Gary Burnett 11.Antony Hickey
Unused Subs: 12.Josh Hine 14.Mark Jackson 15.Andy Griffiths 16.Tony Evans
AFC Liverpool: 1.Sean Lake 2.Anthony Brown 3.Ionut (Danny) Cuciorva 4.Darren Torpey 5.River Humphreys 6. Jack Sinnott (12. Steve Corris 38′) 7.Ronnie Morgan 8.Liam Loughlin 9.Steve Jones 10.John Lawless (C) 11.Shaun Harris
Unused Subs: 14.Nevil Picton 15.Tomas Stewart 16.Daniel Hand 18.Michael Girvan

The jackpot currently stands at £3000 and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning that in this coming Saturday’s draw is choose six numbers between 1 and 18. What’s more, for your £1 entry, you get two entries which means two chances to win.

To enter this week’s draw, simply fill in the form below and complete the online payment or if you would like make sure your included in every draw, then please click HERE to subscribe to the draw, where you can also find the rules.

All online entries must be received before midday (BST) Saturday 11th May 2013. Any entries received after that shall be included in the following week’s draw. Please note, each entry carries a small transaction fee.

The Sunday Under 14′s suffered disappointment as they went out of the Merseyside & Halewood JFL Challenge Cup at the semi final stage, going down 1-2 to Crosby Stuart.

The Under 21′s couldn’t quite round off a perfect season as they lost their unbeaten record with a 1-2 defeat to St Margarets Old Boys in their final game of the season. Michael aka Archstanton supplies us with a match report:

In a game shortened to 35 minutes each way in order for players and supporters to get to the derby, AFC Liverpool took the lead through a well worked Andrew Sweeney goal early in the first half. St Margarets OB’s equalised from a free kick which was misjudged by defender come goalkeeper Louis Weston, deputising for the injured Declan Morgan.

In the second half St Margarets OB’s were awarded a penalty when their forward, who was one on one with the keeper, was brought down. The referee showed common sense in the last game of the season and didn’t produce a red card. Louis Weston was unlucky after getting two hands on the ball to see it roll past him into the net.

The last ten minutes saw AFC Liverpool create several chances but the ball just wouldn’t go in and the unbeaten season dream was over.

AFC Liverpool Ladies though rounded off their season with a 6-0 demolition of AFC Urmston Meadowside, with the goals coming from Antonia (2), Amy (2), Connie (1) and Wendy (1). That result, which made it six wins and two draws from their last ten games, sees the Ladies move into fifth in the North West Women’s Regional League Division One South.

There were no winners so the £3000 jackpot is still up for grabs.