Vodkat League

Tuesday 22nd September 2009

Bacup Borough continued their good run of form going to fifth in the League Table following a five game unbeaten run against a hard working Maine Road side that pushed Bacup all the way.

It was the home side that started the brightest, as early as the third minute the Bacup keeper had a lucky escape when he failed to deal with the ball coming in from his left. Minutes later Bacup were let off the hook again when the defence were pushing out but for some reason midfield player Jamie Rother got caught in, playing the lad on side, and allowing the player to get in a shot that whistled wide of the post.

Maine Road then forced a corner which Bacup only managed to partially clear and home side player latched onto the ball before striking goal bound but the Bacup keeper Tommy Allen produced a stunning full length save.

On 15 minutes Bacup were in front, the goal came when Arran Walters did well down the Bacup left flank before cutting inside to produce a good cross and Martin Cosgrave advancing in from the right on the blind side of players finished with more or less a tap in.

This goal settled Bacup down and they started to get a firm grip on the game, forcing the home side onto the defensive. Bacup won a free kick deep into their own half, Warren Collier picked out Steve Smith who produced a stunning shot which was only just wide of the post.

Although Bacup were on top at this stage they did not have it all their own way. Maine Road got in on the counter attack producing a long deep cross to the far post, Bacup defender Nick Hodson was too far off his man allowing him a header which keeper Tommy Allen had to save with his legs for Bacup to clear. At the opposite end Steven Smith played a straight ball which Jamie Rother chased down along with the home sides keeper who raced off his line, Rother got the better of the keeper but agonisingly his effort was just wide.

On 40 minutes Bacup were two goals to the good, Warren Collier did well down the right combining well with Jamie Rother who shaped a good ball into the far post area where Steve Smith arrived to head the ball into the net.

The second half got underway but whilst the home side did try to force Bacup back, their defensive unit were making life difficult for the Maine Road Strikers to create anything of any consequence. The best early chance of the half fell to Bacup and it really should have been three, Bacup won a corner and a quality ball was put into the box, Nick Hodson arriving late somehow put the ball wide when it seemed easier to score.

Bacup looked solid at the back as well as looking a threat on the attack, however Maine Road kept at it working hard for each other trying to create an opportunity. It was in the closing minutes when through in discipline on the Bacup Borough’s players part that mayhem was created in the Bacup defence, the first effort came when Hudson failed to clear fully which gifted a Maine Road player an effort but Tommy Allen produced an excellent save. Following this Bacup had won a free kick but Davey Luker attempted to play the ball long up to Matthew Hampson. However the pass was miss-directed and went directly to a Maine Road player who went route one down the pitch causing mayhem in the Bacup defence resulting in panic clearances, defenders colliding before eventually getting the ball down once again to play.

Following the game Bacup Borough Manager Brent Peters had this to say “We started the game bad, credit to Maine Road they were in and at us, maybe had they have scored in this period the outcome could have been different. However once we got the break and we scored it settled us down to start to play and control the game well. Some of our football was quality but we were guilty at times of forcing a pass instead of being composed and keep good simple possession.

When we needed Tommy Allen he was there for us, Davey Luker kept his troops going, Jamie Rother was exceptional, followed closely by Matthew Hampson and young Stuart Nixon who made his debut at left back did very well especially when he has not played for over twelve months. Martin Cosgrave was causing Maine Road all sorts of problems and worked hard but almost spoil a good performance by switching off at vital times with regards his positioning for defensive duties.

One major flaw in an otherwise very good away win team performance was the naivety in pushing on for more goal scoring opportunities when the game is going into the last five minutes. Rather than keeping the ball to kill the game off we would try to force the ball causing ourselves unnecessary problems in our defensive third and we were lucky not to concede. This all boiled down to being more disciplined and thinking more about situations, this apart following a bad start, we worked hard and played quite well to get the three points”.

Team: Tommy Allen, Warren Collier, Davey Luker, Nick Hodson, Stuart Nixon, Martin Cosgrave, Jamie Rother, Matthew Hampson, Arran Walters (Adrian Bellamy), Steve Smith (Lee Ellis), Lee Oldham (Moises Costa Soares).

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Brandio, Scott Taylor

Goals: Martin Cosgrave 15, Steve Smith 40

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