FC Isle of Man and Pilkington play out thrilling draw

Ravens fight back three times to claim a point at The Bowl

FC Isle of Man and Pilkington shared the spoils during a thrilling 3-3 draw in the NWCFL Premier Division this afternoon (15 March).

Pilkington led in the first half through goals from Adam Lawrence and Freddy Garbutt either side of an Alex Maitland strike for the hosts.

In the second half, substitute Sean Doyle levelled for 'The Ravens' before Pilkington took the lead again courtesy of top-scorer Ryan Beigan with just over 15 minutes to play.

The Islanders then rescued a point as Doyle struck again from close range with five minutes of normal time left.

Today's matchup brought together two sides well out-of-form with both having managed just one win in their last six.

Pilkington's breakthrough came on 22 minutes as a Nathan Salisbury corner from the left was met by the head of Lawrence whose effort squeezed under FC Isle of Man goalkeeper Adam Killey to open the scoring.

It would take until the 42nd minute for FC Isle of Man to respond - Pilkington failed to fully clear a corner with the ball eventually falling to Maitland on the edge of the box who arrowed a half-volley into the top corner.

With the first period looking destined to be a dead heat - Pilkington struck again just three minutes later.

Garbutt with space on the edge of the FC Isle of Man penalty area danced past several tackles on the left before curling a composed low effort into Killey's bottom left-hand corner.

Trailing at the start of the second half, FC Isle of Man made a triple substitution during the second 45 with one of those entering the field, Doyle making a quick impact.

With 62 minutes on the clock, Pilkington failed to fully clear a corner again with Kyle Watson controlling on the edge of the box and squaring a pass to Doyle who - back to goal - swiveled and sent an effort across goal into the bottom corner.

As the contest then began to open up, Pilkington snatched the lead for the third time with just over 15 minutes to go.

Some intricate passing on the left ended with Thomas Parry on the byline firing a pass across the six-yard box to an unmarked Beigan who swept a low strike into the net from around ten yards.

Needing some inspiration, Doyle delivered for FC Isle of Man once more on 85 minutes.

A swift counter-attack saw Watson float a ball to the right for Ste Whitley who controlled well before racing into the Pilkington penalty area and feeding a pass across to Doyle who - just a few yards out - passed his resulting effort into an almost empty net.

FC Isle of Man's next match will take place tomorrow (16 March) against Prestwich Heys at The Bowl in Douglas, kicking-off at 11am.

Manx Radio will be providing full live match commentary on our DAB and AM1368 channels.

Man of the Match: Sean Doyle (FC Isle of Man)