First half goals from Ash Chambers and Jordan Hallam weren’t enough as the 9 men of United fell to a 3-2 defeat at The Giant Axe on the opening day.

It was a lively start from the hosts in blue as Chris Dagnall let fly from 25 yards, but his shot went just over. Moments later academy scholar Nelson Aideyan produced a superb block to deny Dagnall again.

Kane Richards almost took advantage of a mistake from the Dolly Blues, but goalkeeper James McClenaghan was quick out of his goal to smother the ball.

We took the lead on 16 minutes when an unmarked Ash Chambers got his head to skipper Matt Thornhills corner!

The lead only lasted a few minutes when Lancaster were awarded a penalty after an apparent hand ball by Victor Nirennold which the defender saw red for. Nic Evangelinos stepped up and sent Kieran Preston the wrong way and the Dolly Blues were level and United were down to 10 after only 20 minutes.

United battled hard to stay in the game with Lancaster now having most of the ball and trying to make the one-man advantage count. Four minutes before half time, the lively Richards received the ball in the box and was about to unleash one but was carelessly taken out by Ed Ikpakwu. Jordan Hallam stepped up and made no mistake as United managed to go into the break ahead.

Like the first half the Dolly Blues started the second half on the front foot and on the 47th minute Charlie Bailey got in behind to slot past Preston.

For large parts of the second half United were forced to defend deep as Lancaster put the pressure on but were met by a resilient Amber defence.

Deep into stoppage time Preston handled the ball outside the box resulting in a second yellow card and we was forced to finish the game with 9 men. From the resulting free kick Lancaster took the lead although many in the stadium were in disbelief as goal scorer Jamie Mellen looked to be a fair few yards offside but with the linesmen nowhere to be seen the goal was given much to the anger of United who had defended brilliantly all game despite playing 70 minutes with 10 men.

The Ambers will look to bounce back from the late heartbreak on Tuesday night when they face Leek Town under the Greenwich Avenue lights.

Kick-off is at 7:45pm with admission prices as follows…

Adults: £11
Concessions: £8
Students &U16s: £5
Family: £27.50