Vodkat North West Counties Premier League

Saturday 11th October 2008

This was a disappointing and frustrating afternoon for Bacup Borough in a game which should have seen them take all three points with ease.

Disappointing that Matthew Cross does score past his own goalkeeper to give Alsager a share of the points, Disappointing with the team’s overhaul performance, frustrating that Ryan Marley had to leave the pitch with a recurrence of a groin injury, frustrating that Leading Goal Scorer Tommy Turner had to depart mid way through the second half with a broken cheekbone & then if that was not enough disappointing that Captain Davey Luker was given a straight red card, a decision the official got sadly wrong when it was clear Davey had won the ball cleanly.

Bacup almost had an early goal when an Alsager defender played the ball back to his keeper, with the keeper not being able to pick the ball up Turner was in there to win the ball taking it away from the keeper before striking the foot of the post, Alsager’s main threat came from their left sided player who on a couple of occasions out ran Warren Collier before cutting inside but Melville dealt with it in the Bacup goal.

On several occasions the Bacup midfield were guilty of misplaced passes preventing them from getting their normal fluent passing game going, however on 19 minutes this was corrected when Matthew Hampson delivered the ball from midfield putting Tommy Turner through onto goal who made no mistake shooting his side in front.

Alsager never throughout the game tested Melville, however on 33 mins his own player Matthew Cross crazily shot the ball past his keeper that came off the underside of the bar and over the line, it was a bizarre goal to say the least, Cross under no pressure was given a shout by his keeper for a little dink back into his hands, if Cross had number nine on his back and he would have been playing for the opposition, it would have been the goal of the game.

Conceding an own goal was a set back, and Ryan Marley had to leave the pitch with a groin injury to be replaced by Lee Oldham, at the business end of the pitch Bacup almost got a second when following a corner the ball whistled across the face of the goal, had connection been made it would have been a certain goal.

At the start of the second half Tommy Turner fought hard with two defenders shackling him and managed to win his side a corner which was defended

Alsager’s only real threat came following a free kick which Melville tipped over his cross bar for a corner which came to nothing. Whilst at the opposite end Bacup won a free kick following a foul on Collier, Matthew Cross swung the ball into the area Kyle Harrop shot and Davey Luker deflected it goal bound but was scrambled away.

Bacup introduced Martin Cosgrave for Warren Collier and it was Cosgrave that almost got in one v one against the Alsager keeper only to be denied by an Assistant’s flag. Then Jamie Rother made a deep run from midfield whilst Tommy Turner was stood in an offside position, Rother had come from deep to latch onto a ball which came off an Alsager player’s head into his path but once again the Assistant got it all wrong and offside was given.

Tommy Turner had to leave the pitch to be replaced by Dominic Slavin with what has turned out to be a broken cheekbone to add to a very frustrating and disappointing afternoon at the Brian Boys West View Stadium.

Manager Brent Peters Had This To Say “In my opinion prior to the game the players were set a simple task, it was to win the game, this would have given us seven points out of a possible nine points. This would have been an excellent weeks work and it would have shown Championship form, unfortunately the task failed leaving us with five points from a possible nine points. I have said it many times that we are a very good slick passing team, providing we can maintain those standards we have set and providing we can dictate the pace of every game, then winning will become a regular feature. In this game we played in fits and starts but too many important players dropped below their standards they have set and too many passes were being given away. Despite this we had got one goal in front and reflecting on the game and the opposition that one goal should have been enough despite the fact that our team performance was not up to our usual fluency. I really could not see Alsager having enough quality on the day to break us down and they didn’t and it was with the help of Matthew Cross that game them a share of the spoils. I find to difficult to find words to even start to think what he was doing, all in all a frustrating afternoon“

Team: Phil Melville, Ryan Marley (Lee Oldham), Steve Sheils, Davey Luker, Matthew Cross, Warren Collier (Martin Cosgrave), Matthew Hampson, Kyle Harrop, Jamie Rother, Tommy Turner (Dominic Slavin), Nicky Robinson.

Subs Not Used:

Goals: Tommy Turner 17

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