Bacup Borough Manager Brent Peters sent out a Statement of where his club’s priority lIe when he left no less than eight regulars out of his starting line up for this Vodkat Premier League Fixture, this ahead of their League Challenge Cup Quarter Final against second placed Winsford on Saturday.

Coming into the side were new signing Laquan Esdaile from New Mills, young Academy players Amilcar Jacinto and Max Jones making their debuts whilst missing were Club Captain Davey Luker, Paul Horridge,& Marc Taylor, with Gareth Wager, Lee Pugh, Kingsley Williams, Daniel Cocks & Tommy Turner all starting on the bench, Manager Brent Peters explained “ Our only realistic chance of winning any silverware is the League Challenge Cup, Winsford our opponents have had the luxury of not having had a mid week game, they will come to us fresh and ready to go, we could not afford that same luxury having to play this game tonight, going into this game we had several players not 100% fit as they are carrying niggles, playing two games per week would or could put them out for several games something we need to avoid, Peters added “ it was important to give my lads the best chance to be injury free, fresh and ready to go against Winsford as I am sure they will be for us hence my decision to make the changes I have made, the changes were made in the best interest of Bacup Borough Football Club “

Not surprising Runcorn had the upper hand in the first half but despite the fact that Adrian Bellamy who was the only regular in the back four, the new look Bacup defence were dealing with the Runcorn attacks quite well, this apart from one situation when a Runcorn player found himself unopposed as the Bacup defence had aloud him to get face to face with Matthew Wrigley in the Bacup goal, when the ball found him, I think he was as surprised as any one hence why he shot direct at the Bacup keeper, any where else the ball would have found the net.

Both teams were all square at the break, at half time Martin Cosgrave was injured and replaced by Daniel Cocks.

The second half was all Runcorn once they got themselves in front on forty seven minutes, a goal scored by Paul Prescott, this goal came when Lee Oldham tried to send a diagonal ball which fell short of its intended destination, the ball was knocked into the space behind the Bacup full back thus allowing Prescott to take the Bacup centre back on before producing a clinical finish.

Bacup were not offering anything going forward and it was no surprise when Runcorn doubled their lead capitalising on Bacup loosing the ball high up the pitch, their direct approach got Runcorn behind the Bacup defence from which Kevin Towey finished.

At the opposite end Runcorn produced a couple of goal line clearances but these apart Bacup never really looked threatening whilst at times Runcorn were shooting at will at Keeper Matthew Wrigley who was outstanding on the night, this apart from an attempted challenge from the Bacup keeper to give away a penalty which was placed wide of the goal.

On eighty nine minutes the Runcorn substitute Gerard Courtney put the final nail in when a diagonal ball was not dealt with by defender Lee Pugh who had replaced Amilcar Jacinto, the ball somehow got past the Bacup keeper up the bye line for Courtney to tap into the empty net.

The Final word went to the Bacup Manager who had this to say “When changes are made and young inexperienced players are coming into the side, one hopes that the more experienced players take the lead, well the simple fact tonight they did not, every credit to the lesser experienced lads, they did not let anyone down, in fact I thought young Max Jones played with a lot of self belief and confidence, for his debut it was very much impressing, the other lads were not far behind,

Peters added if anyone should have been found wanting one would have thought the younger lads who have not been involved before, this was not the case, so on this front I am really disappointed with the experienced players that started, with the exception of defender Adrian Bellamy the rest of the experienced lads were very poor from the standards and quality I know they can produce,

Peters added “ at times Runcorn had men over in advanced positions supporting their front men, our midfield lads were not in touching distance of them when it came to defending, equally going forward we had no quality, all in all we were very poor indeed, we got very much what we deserved, Nothing. People can look at the changes and point the finger there, but if they do they are being blinkered, the changes did not let us down or cost us, what cost us were players that were a million miles off where they should be, both when we are in possession and when we were out of possession, we lacked that player to get on the ball and be composed in getting us to play,

Peters concluded by saying “ our hallmark this season as been the quality within our ball retention, players being comfortable in getting on the ball, being composed and using the ball well, whilst we had the players on the pitch that do possess all those attributes, sadly tonight we were found wanting, credit to Runcorn they deserved everything they got “

Team: Matthew Wrigley, Adrian Bellamy, Laquan Esdaile, Arran Spencer, Max Jones (Kingsley Williams), Amilcar Jacinto (Lee Pugh), Matthew Hampson, Lee Oldham, Lance Ogunyode, Haydn Paul, Martin Cosgrave (Daniel Cocks)

Subs Not Used: Gareth Wager, Tommy Turner

Goals: --

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