Skem unleash power on high flying Wire

THERE is a football related phrase for what Skelmersdale United did to Warrington at the Uretek Stadium on Saturday.

It is called “bouncebackability”, and that is exactly what happened and to be honest Warrington couldn’t cope with it.

The “Wiremen” arrived in Skem on the back of a 3-0 hammering of Blyth Spartans on their own Croft Park ground and a win would have put them into third place in the table, on the other hand Skem were decidedly out of form.

With a whole Skelmersdale defence out for various reasons, Kenny Strickland was given the task of captain and defensive anchor, a role he revelled in, his Skem team having far too much energy and mobility for Warrington who in the end quite frankly ran out of ideas and were forced to almost accept defeat with a quarter of the game left.

Skelmersdale set about Warrington from the start and after just three minutes Warrington goalkeeper Karl Wills was at full stretch to punch away a Tom Ince cross as Callum Mahoney was set to head home for Skem.

Skelmersdale were playing at a tempo that Warrington were struggling match, the hosts first to every ball and pouncing on anything that dropped loose.

It was almost inevitable something was going to occur and it did on 19 minutes.

Former Skelmersdale full-back Peter Wylie was caught napping near the corner flag by Chris Almond, the winger pinched the ball, passed to Luke Wall who helped it on into the goalmouth, Benito Lowe sprinted in from midfield and sent a smoker of a shot past goalkeeper Wills.

Warrington are a confident outfit and they responded by going on the offensive but got little change out of a solid Skelmersdale backline.

The only real scare was created by another former Skem man, Ged Kinsella, whose one-two put him into space, however his shot was smothered by the Trelleborg Man of the Match Martin Fearon on 29 minutes.

The first-half was a fairly close affair but Skem went close once more, Mahoney was dragged back by a defender and Lowe’s free-kick brought a fine save out of Wills.

Wills had done well for Warrington, but on 48 minutes he went from hero to zero as he almost threw the ball into his own net.

Ince swung in a corner from the right, the 6ft 4” keeper seemed to gather the ball then let it slip, he did scramble back and hook it clear, but both photographs and a referee’s assistant showed it had clearly crossed the goalline and it was 2-0 to Skem.

Warrington pushed on to try and salvage something, but such was Skelmersdale’s defensive stranglehold that although he got the man of the match award, goalkeeper Martin Fearon was probably having his quietest afternoon of the season.

Warrington were having the possession but Skelmersdale were having the chances, Lowe put one thunderous drive in on 50 minutes, then Almond hit the post after good work down the left by Ince.

On 67 minutes Skelmersdale made a difficult task for Warrington almost an impossible one.

Skem counterattacked quickly with Ince leading the charge, Paul Woolcott was alongside Ince and when the ball was slipped into his path by the number 11 he slotted the ball clinically past the advancing Wills and into the net for a third Skelmersdale goal.

By now Warrington were becoming frustrated, Strickland and his fellow defenders were absolutely dominant. Mahoney put a shot just wide for Skem and after Ince held the ball up Wall was only thwarted by a tremendous tackle by Wylie.

In the 87th minute Mahoney carried the ball toward Warrington, and then he cleverly put Ince one-on-one with Wills, the energetic midfielder netting joyously, making it 4-0 to Skelmersdale.

Without doubt it was Skelmersdale’s best performance of the season, but those who watch them regularly arguably could see it coming.

Despite the poor results they have been improving game on game, just luck was against them.

Tommy Lawson’s move to play Strickland in the centre of defence was a masterstroke, when he has played there in the past he has looked good and many have it as his best position, but on this show it was like having a “Young Bobby Moore” in the backline. Allegedly Strickland doesn’t like playing there, preferring midfield where he is very decent.

Well if he did drop into the defence permanently he would probably be the best defender in the league, it is understood that he celebrates his 26th birthday very soon, he could well celebrate his 36th still playing at this level, such is his reading of the game.