FOR a while at least, these teams were fierce rivals.

In part, that was borne of familiarity; after all, they played each other six times during 2013 alone.

There was an edge to those meetings.

On the field, they were both contenders for promotion from the Northern Premier League’s top-flight.

They were drawn together in knockout competitions too, most memorably an FA Trophy first qualifying round encounter that became a saga due to successive postponements and an abandonment.

And then there was Shaun Tuck.

Here’s our pick of the best meetings between the clubs:

FC United of Manchester 1-2 Witton Albion

November 5, 2013

An FA Trophy soap opera that had bordered on farce concluded with a moment of fantasy.

Danny Andrews’ decisive goal with time running out was brilliant, and it spared the blushes of a Witton side that had toiled badly to subdue opponents with nine men following the dismissals of Mike Norton and Lee Neville.

The teams had drawn in a first meeting more than a fortnight earlier, but multiple postponements – and an abandonment too – of this replay resulted in it being played at Wincham Park.

READ: FC United 1-2 Witton: match report

Witton Albion 2-2 FC United of Manchester

October 19, 2013

Matty Wolfenden thought he had sent FC United through in the FA Trophy after connecting with Liam Brownhill’s cross on the volley.

There was eight minutes left, and Witton had spurned opportunities to progress.

Referee Peter Gooch then gave them another one after goalkeeper Jon Worsnop was judged to have prompted Dave Walker’s tumble.

The visitors were, not unreasonably, incensed.

Josh Hancock’s successful spot-kick didn’t help their mood at the end of a pulsating tie.

And then the rain came.

READ: Witton 2-2 FC United: match report

FC United of Manchester 3-1 Witton Albion

September 3, 2013

For this one, the football was a backdrop.

And Shaun Tuck, even in his absence, was the most talked-about player.

He had marked his return after a jail sentence, a punishment for using social media to send malicious messages following the murder in London of soldier Lee Rigby, with a winning goal against King’s Lynn the previous weekend.

Albion boss Brian Pritchard didn’t pick him, but the hosts still warmed up wearing t-shirts with a warning to ‘Kick racism out of football’.

On the pitch, the visitors crumbled under pressure from Ollie Banks’ intelligent probing.

FC United of Manchester 3-1 Witton Albion

Tuesday May 7, 2013

The biggest game of all between the teams? Definitely.

Witton, promoted via the play-offs from the Northern Premier League’s First Division North the previous season, had an opportunity to repeat the trick after finishing fourth on their return to the top-flight.

In a feverish atmosphere at Gigg Lane, the home team imposed themselves on the occasion by scoring twice inside the opening half-hour.

Albion, impressively in the circumstances, steadied themselves enough to worry FC United for a spell in the second period after Josh Hancock converted a penalty.

But they couldn’t conjure an equaliser, and Dean Stott’s penalty send his side through to the final.

Witton Albion 4-3 FC United of Manchester

February 19, 2013

An appetiser for the epic battles to follow, Witton’s first meeting with FC United in 2013 was a gloriously open last 16 tie in the Doodson Sports League Cup.

Dean Stott had put the visitors in front, but they were playing catch-up from the moment debutant Michael Powell met Danny Andrews’ corner with a thumping header.

Shaun Tuck had equalised five minutes earlier.

The second-half delivered four more goals, two for each side, before Brian Pritchard’s men secured for themselves a spot in the quarter-finals.