Vodkat North West Counties League

Thursday 29th April 2010

Bacup Borough got back to winning ways following Tuesdays Derby defeat, credit to both Bacup and Runcorn for the endeavour and good football both teams produced despite both teams having had hard games on Tuesday.

It was no surprise that it was Bacup that did control the game for long periods with Runcorn not being at full strength to the point that Manager Steve Wilkes named himself in the line up and actually played the ninety minutes, yet another Manager and son combination with Louis Wilkes playing.

Bacup Borough’s first opportunity did come following a Runcorn corner from which the home side broke out very quickly with Lance Ogunyode who then sent his brother Chris through but the experienced Priestley was quickly off his line, then a terrific ball down the Bacup Borough’s right from Phil Prescott to Lance Ogunyode who controlled really well before his attempted cross was deflected for a corner, it was from this corner that Barry Massey headed over the Runcorn cross bar.

It was constant Bacup pressure but credit to Runcorn they were defending the situation well, although they had a let off when Barry Massey was fouled at the edge of the penalty area for a free kick to be awarded, Chris Ogunyode bent the ball around the wall but agonisingly his superb effort struck the inside of the post and then to safety.

At the opposite end Runcorn were not hurting Bacup but they were rewarded a free kick for a foul by Josh Lynch but the effort went wide of Paul Horridges post.

The second half got underway from which it took Bacup five minutes to have taken the lead, this came as a result of a superb run from full back position getting to the bye line at the opposite end of the pitch before delivering a real quality cross from which Lee Oldham complimented with a good header at the far post giving keeper Priestley in the Runcorn goal absolutely no chance.

Bacup had been comfortable all of the game, it should have been the same after going one goal up but typical Bacup they like to make things difficult for themselves thus gifting the Cheshire club an equalising goal, this did come on sixty eight minutes following a rash throw out from keeper Paul Horridge that Chris Ogunyode pushed too far from which Runcorn did capitalised upon to put Bacup under pressure, this resulted in Paul Fildes being aloud to turn with the ball before taking defenders on before firing a shot that keeper Paul Horridge will be wondering how the shot beat him at his near post to end up in the back of the net.

Bacup Borough had well and truly shot themselves in the foot, however one minute later Bacup were back in front when Josh Lynch another Pro-Vision Academy player making only his second appearance but in as many days produced an excellent strike from outside the box to shoot his side into the lead.

Runcorn felt they did not get the rub of the green on this next situation in the Referee’s stakes when possibly the best move of the night for Runcorn resulted in the Bacup Captain Davey Luker fouling a Runcorn player at the edge of the penalty area, the Runcorn bench felt it should have been a penalty and Davey Luker should have been sent off for preventing a goal scoring opportunity, the Referee Mr Johnson was having none of it, Luker got a yellow card and the free kick was given which big Barry Massey defended for a corner which was also cleared.

Bacup should have put the game out of reach when seventeen year old substitute Fabio Arbreu danced around the Runcorn defenders before laying the ball off to Massey with only the keeper to beat but somehow scuffed the effort and the chance to make it three, in the end two proved enough to earn the points.

Following the game I did not have to wait so long before the Bacup Manager emerged who had this to say,

“when a team gets beat and also takes an hammering from me as my players did on Tuesday, it is then a test of character and how they respond in the next game, in adversity there must be a positive, this is exactly what I did get tonight, a good steady performance, whilst it always is very much a team effort I must signal out Phil Prescott who had an excellent game, his cross for the opening goal was real quality but so was his defending, Lee Oldham did well sticking his head in to get onto the end of the cross.

Peters added “it was once again the Runcorn equaliser was a stupid goal to concede, whilst Runcorn’s Paul Fildes did well and finished well, Paul Horridge should not have thrown the ball out and to whom he did throw the ball to, this again was bad decision making which could easily have had far reaching consequences, thankfully young Josh lynch capped a good performance with a good strike to put us back in front and by doing so we got the fully deserved three points, peters continued by saying “ I am bewildered at the official Ryan Johnson in the early stages of the game he let a lot of things go for both sides which is fair enough but then late in the game there is seven players booked, four from Runcorn and three from Bacup, yet there was nothing of any consequences in the game apart from two early challenges which he let go anyway, this was almost at the beginning of the game.

This being the case if he lets the early ones go that were far more dangerous than anything he eventually starts to book players for, then why he needed to start late into the game brandishing the yellow cards were just not called for, in all fairness apart from the two early fouls there was nothing else of any consequence that required all those bookings, Peters finished by saying “ I Cannot praise the Commitment that the Runcorn Manager showed to his club tonight, Steve Wilkes was faced with late withdrawals from his squad, however being the type of person Steve is, he took the mantle, named himself in the team, he got through ninety minutes and credit to him, some of these young lads need to look at that example “

Team: Paul Horridge, Phil Prescott, Dougie Shaw, Davey Luker, Josh Greenhalgh, Lance Ogunyode (Fabio Abreu), Josh Lynch, Lee Kershaw, Chris Ogunyode, Barry Massey (Falco Lourenco), Lee Oldham.

Subs Not Used: Steve Dryden, Domonic Stockdale

Goals: Lee Oldham 50, Josh Lynch 68

Home - Fixtures