Bacup Borough came away from Flixton with three deserved points against a strong determined side.

This was never going to be a game for getting the ball down and playing due to the nature of the playing surface but very much a game from which one had to be competitive something that this game was very much about as both teams went toe to toe in an effort to get rewards from the game.

The first half was very much an equal contest as both sides were determined to be hard to beat, Flixton had their goal keeper Paul Oband to thank following a stunning save fro Lee Oldham, this following good link up play involving Davey Luker, Daniel Cocks, Martin Cosgrave who presented the ball to Oldham who’s stunning strike produced the best from the Flixton keeper, at the other end of the pitch a bad clearance from Bacup Borough’s young defender presented Daniel Egan the opportunity to get his shot off that was only inches to one side of the post.

Bacup won themselves a free kick at the edge of the Flixton Penalty area, the ball was delivered in with quality and really Bacup should have taken the lead from this when three Bacup players found themselves contesting for the same ball, had any one of the players put a name on it, a free header would have been theirs to direct into the net, instead the ball agonisingly went over the cross bar.

At the half time whistle with neither side breaking the deadlock, never the less despite no goals it was very much an entertaining committed half by both sides.

The second half with Bacup now having the wind direction, this most certainly did help the visitors as they did step it up and were for the majority of the half the team very much in the ascendancy creating many openings in the final third only for their final ball or decision making to let them down.

Both Kingsley Willians and Daniel Cocks did try long range efforts that were way off the mark, then following a Bacup corner Williams shot over the Flixton cross bar.

Bacup Borough’s best opportunity of breaking the deadlock did come when Davey Luker put the ball over the top of the Flixton defence, Martin Cosgrave was on it but under pressure from the Flixton defender, when Cosgrave gathered the ball at the second attempt and with the Flixton keeper now advancing from his goal line, Cosgrave shot with the keeper well beaten but the ball agonisingly did come back off the flixton upright.

Bacup were well on top at this stage and won a free kick deep into the Flixton half, Cocks delivered with quality but once again not one Bacup Borough player was prepared to throw himself at the ball as any connection with the pace on the ball would have resulted in a goal.

Another free kick was awarded to Bacup following a foul on Cocks who did take the kick but the Flixton keeper was right behind the kick.

Bacup made a substitution bringing on Haydn Paul in place of Daniel Cocks, once again Bacup afforded themselves another opportunity when Adrian Bellamy did capitalise on a mistake by the Flixton defender, he drove to the bye line and cut inside but opted to blast the ball across the front of goal, this rather than picking out one of his advancing team mates.

On seventy five minutes Bacup got the break through their second half penetration did deserve, it came following a good move and a long ball for Martin Cosgrave who was now running goal bound but slightly wide of centre, he then put the ball further wide for the advancing Adrian Bellamy who then made a good run inside the penalty area but was taken out leaving the Match official no other option than to award a penalty which Bellamy himself stepped up and made absolutely no mistake from the spot.

Flixton tried hard to get themselves back on equal terms forcing a succession of corners but to no avail as Bacup Borough stood resolute in keeping a clean sheet and with this fully deserving the three points in a hard competitive match.

Following the game I spoke to the Bacup Borough Manager who had this to say. “Following our recent run of excellent results, this was then overshadowed with bad results, this rather than bad performances, the results have come mainly due to either an individual not consistently full filling his responsibilities both in and out of possession from which we have been punished, this or the fact of having been reduced to ten men due to again in discipline but indiscipline for different reasons, the fact that we were conceding too many goals, every area had to be addressed, this we have done, it was important we got ourselves back to basics in order to make us a team hard to beat, this resulted in our team selection for this game, we obviously got it right, Flixton are very much a competitive side, in order to get anything we knew we must be strong, resolute and be disciplined, this we were, last week I had strong words to say about Gareth Wager but credit to him, in this game he was fully focussed on his responsibilities, he was colossal for us, this then spread through out the team, defensively we were focussed and did well, as our midfield came out on top against a challenging Flixton midfield, up front Daniel Cocks and Martin Cosgrave did play with plenty of energy in both directions, something which was important,

Peters added “ people may look at the fact that we won by a slender one goal which came from the penalty spot, this may be the case but if that is their assumption then they are blinkered, the first half was an even contest but certainly not the second half, we could easily have won this game by a bigger margin,

Peters finished by saying “ the highlight from the goal we scored was the intelligence of Martin Cosgrave, the position he was in to where the goals were, most players would have taken the wrong option by going direct where there was no space, the amount of times I have instructed our lads to be patient if the box is full, they have been told to get it wide in order to come back in, this creates space, space creates openings, from Martin making that decision to put the ball wide to Adrian created everything, Adrian Bellamy did really well and took his penalty well also, so all in all, a clean sheet was the order of the afternoon, mission accomplished, not to be beat, mission accomplished, if possible taking three points away from home, mission accomplished. So I am really pleased with the lads for the way they have come back, hopefully we can now go onto another impressive run “

Team: Max Johnson, Gareth Wager, Adrian Bellamy, Adam Turner, Ed Williams, Arran Walters, Davey Luker, Kingsley Williams, Lee Oldham, Daniel Cocks (Haydn Paul), Martin Cosgrave (Tommy Turner)

Subs Not Used: Matthew Hampson, Matthew Kemp, Matthew Wrigley

Goals: Adrian Bellamy 78

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