Bacup Manager kept faith with the side that drew in midweek with the exception of young seventeen year old keeper Jack McGregor who was replaced with experienced keeper Paul Horridge.
The visitors started brightly and the large Knowsley Road Stadium seemed to suit Bacup’s fast flowing football which paid dividends twelve minutes into the game when Chris Greenwood’s deep cross was met with a Tony Carroll header to put the visitors ahead. The veteran striker could easily have added to his goal when Greenwood once again found Carroll who brought the ball down when the obvious choice would have been a first time volley. On twenty five minutes Carroll made no mistake this time when Dave Luker picked him out and Carroll curled the ball into the far post area of the goal.
St Helens won a free kick following a fowl by John Luker and the kick was delivered with a wicked bounce in front of Paul Horridge who did well to deal with it. Other than this the keeper had a quiet half as Bacup were dominant through out.
At the start of the second half Bacup had two glorious opportunities to increase their lead when the St Helens keepers attempted a pass to his full back which was intercepted by Carroll who cleverly chipped the keeper but his attempt went just wide of the post. Another Bacup attack was defended when the St Helens keeper punched a cross but only as far as Nick Dowsing who quickly played the ball into Davey Luker who’s shot was inches wide of the post.
Danny Harley was introduced replacing Bryan Herbert but Hartley struggled to get into the game and was guilty of sloppy play giving the ball away which resulted in Bacup conceding a free kick which Horridge did well to save. However on sixty two minutes a quality flowing move from Bacup gave them a three goal advantage, this time yet again Chris Greenwood was the provider with a wonderfully flighted ball to the far post, Tony Carroll headed the ball back the way it was delivered from and Midfielder Stuart Shepherd who had continued his run headed past the helpless keeper.
This three goal cushion prompted Manager Brent Peters to bring into the action Mark Fitton replacing Nick Dowsing. However it was against Fitton that a St Helens player worked his way past the Bacup Player far too easily and created half a yard on the Bacup substitute, the player then cut inside the penalty box from the bye line. With no Bacup defender coming to close the player down, Keeper Horridge tried to cut down the angle but the player managed to get the ball beyond the keeper leaving a simple tap in reducing the deficit.
In an effort to try to salvage something from a game that Bacup had dominated St Helens threw on another forward and for ten minutes the visitors were all over the place as panic set into the Bacup ranks but the St Helens pressure came to nothing and Bacup secured a good away victory.
Brent Peters Comments" Due to the situation we had found ourselves in with injuries to key players and the team consisting of a lot inexperienced players, I decided to take our young up and coming keeper out of the firing line and replace him with the experienced Paul Horridge. Whilst Paul was not over worked Paul gave us that added security and assuredness which was important when we started to get edgy in the last ten minutes following them pulling a goal back. Once we got edgy, Paul's presence and experience was vital and saw us take three points in a game for eighty minutes we dominated. All three goals were well made and well taken, Tony Carroll is in a good vein of scoring and he his relishing the quality that young Chris Greenwood is serving him, long may this continue. "
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