The Local Newspaper Back Page Leader was Christmas Gift For Bacup Boss, this referring to the recent signing of Flixton’s Arran Hevingham, if that was to be the case then it was like the child with a Christmas Gift that could not be opened on Christmas Day as the League informed the Bacup Manager that Arran must serve a one match ban on Boxing Day for accumulation of five bookings, ironically his last booking picked up was against Bacup, if this was not bad enough, Peters was without the services of Adam Turner, Gareth Wager, Tommy Turner & Kingsley Williams.

The Bacup Manager made three signings only hours before kick off and also brought into the squad was sixteen year old Mohammed Aleem Salim the former Bury FC youngster.

Set backs they may have been but the Bacup faithful should feel proud of the side that presented themselves down at the Riverside, for the majority of this game Bacup were the more classier of the two teams proving to be a constant threat against a team that people are predicting to be the Champions of this league, this game was lost in what was three crazy minutes prior to half time and four minutes following half time, the remainder of this game Bacup were constantly proving to be a threat to their hosts, much to their relief of hearing the Referee’s full time whistle.

The game started badly for new signing Marcus King when he seemed to have won the ball only for Referee Mr Sarsfield indicating he had also taken out the man and a penalty was awarded for Ramsbottom, up stepped John Robinson who attempted to place his spot kick into the bottom corner of the keepers left, Bacup Borough’s keeper Matthew Wrigley got down well to produce an excellent save, it was then Bacup Borough’s turn at the opposite end of the field to be awarded a spot kick, this came following a good positive run from Martin Cosgrave who eventually won a corner, the corner was taken short, Daniel Cocks was making a run across the box when he was tripped, Bacup Borough’s Adrian Bellamy got one up on his Ramsbottom counterpart when he struck the ball well past the Ramsbottom keeper.

At the opposite end Ramsbottom won a corner when the ball was only cleared but only as far as the edge of the box from which a Ramsbottom player struck the ball well goal bound but the Bacup keeper Wrigley got down well pushing the ball away.

The way this half was panning out it looked very much like Bacup would be going in at the break with a slender one goal lead in tact, however on forty two minutes Ramsbottom had other ideas when a long high ball was played forward from which the Bacup Captain Davey Luker won the header which cruelly dropped to Grant Spencer who struck the ball superbly into the only place there was to hit at the keepers far post, the ball was well struck and directed to get his side back on level terms.

If that was cruel, it was worse two minutes later when Ramsbottom got themselves in front, John Robinson who until now had not been in the game such was the job Lee Oldham was doing, however on forty four minutes Oldham got himself involved with another part of the play, this was all Robinson needed in getting away from his marker, Ramsbottom got the ball to Robinson who was now free to drive into the bye line before cutting inside before pulling the ball back for Phil Dean to shoot his side into a shock half time lead.

Four Minutes into the second half the score line went from bad to worse but again one piece of lacking concentration was enough for the Rams to take advantage, the Referee awarded Ramsbottom a cheap free kick in a wide position, the ball was knocked in from which the Bacup keeper Matthew Wrigley was taking with ease, this until his concentration levels deserted him to the point that he let the ball go through his hands enough for John Robinson to be more alert than his marker in helping the ball over the line, this was certainly a bad start to an half that produced a bad finish to the first half, it could have got even worse when Bacup Borough’s young in experienced defender Ed Williams stopped with his hands raised claiming off side, no off side was given, John Robinson was in on goal but his attempted chip was taken by Wrigley the Bacup keeper.

Despite this latest set back, credit to Bacup they still believed they would get something from this game when on fifty minutes Adrian Bellamy and Martin Cosgrave did really well as the ball was played across goal, the ball was cleared but only as far as Matthew Hampson who made no mistake and with it reducing the deficit.

Further chances came Bacup’s way, a stunning save from the Ramsbottom keeper from Daniel Cocks was put out for a corner which was defended, a further chance was created when Daniel Cocks showed good strength going past two defenders before bringing yet another save from Shenton, Bacup following yet another attack won a free kick at the edge of the Ramsbottom penalty area but this time Cocks shaped effort went wide of the post.

In the final minutes of the game Ramsbottom were defending in numbers making it very difficult for the Bacup players to get their shots off, in the end time ran out, Ramsbottom gained three points, Bacup most certainly did not deserve nothing from this encounter.

Following the game the Bacup Web Master Spoke to the Bacup Manager Brent Peters Who Had This Too Say “If ever I wanted the weather to be bad in order for the game not to go ahead, it was in this game, I knew all a long we would be no where near full strength, in fact we were that desperate I had to make three late signings, make no mistake, the side that participated would most certainly not have been the side had we have been at full strength, however that said I was really pleased by the way the team selected played for the majority of the game, we were away from home, playing in front of a decent crowd yet we took the game to Ramsbottom, we played some excellent football, we never let our heads go down, this despite going three-one down, the lads kept believing that there was something there for them and all things being equal they deserved to have got something from this game,

Peters added “ I certainly will not take anything away from Ramsbottom’s equaliser, the lad Grant Shenton struck the ball well and precisely found the only place the ball could have got, however their second goal should never have happened within our set up, I have first of all to question why John Robinson’s marker momentarily left him enough for Jon Robinson to create the damage, in the same move where was our spare defender when Robinson was progressing into the danger area to the point that Adrian Bellamy had to leave his responsibility in order to attempt to stop the danger which did leave us vulnerable to their then spare man, Phil Dean to score, this through one player not at this point sticking to his responsibilities, due to this it then became a knock on domino effect to which John Robinson picked us off, their third goal again was down to human error by lack of concentration by our keeper which in all honesty was a shame because up until this Matthew Wrigley had produced an excellent penalty save and an excellent low save in open play.

Peters finished by saying “take the three minutes away prior to half time and the mistake by our keeper, these apart we played very well and deserved to get something from this game “

Team: Matthew Wrigley, Ed Williams, Marcus King, Lee Oldham, Adrian Bellamy, Matthew Hampson, Davey Luker, Arran Walters, Haydn Paul, Daniel Cocks, Martin Cosgrave

Subs Not Used: Matthew Kemp, Mohammed Aleem Salim, Scott Byrom, Sebastian Noortwijk

Goals: Adrian Bellamy 18 pen, Matthew Hampson 54

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