Tom returns

THERE was a lot at stake when Skelmersdale United entertained Marine at the Uretek Stadium for the “M58 Derby”, and by the end there was plenty for the 403 supporters present to discuss.

It had exactly what you might expect from a derby encounter, a couple of excellent goals, a huge error, a sending off, a punch up and a missed penalty, not to mention plenty of animosity between the respective benches, but not the managers.

The final outcome wasn’t a shock, so it could be said that it went “pretty much as expected.”

The big story of the day was that of former Skelmersdale manager Tommy Lawson bringing his new team over from Crosby to take on the club that controversially sacked him in January after 11 years in charge.

You say it was Tommy Lawson’s new team? The Marine line-up contained five former Skelmersdale players with another four on the substitute’s bench. A fact that just added to the spice of the occasion,

After a friendly handshake between present Skem manager Alan Rogers and Lawson the teams kicked off in the sunshine.

It took Marine precisely three minutes to grab the lead. A loose pass from the home defence went to former Skem legend Kenny Strickland, he released former Skem striker Dan Mitchley down the insideright channel and he despatched a thunderous drive into the far corner of the Skelmersdale net from 15 yards.

One player that did impress in the Marine team was forward Matt Hamilton and not for the last time in the afternoon he superbly brought a long ball under control in the eighth minute then after beating a defender his shot just whistled past the far post.

Skelmersdale were playing their part though and on 16 minutes Remy Howarth ran directly at a confused Marine defender, only to see his dipping 25 yard effort go the wrong side of the crossbar.

This was followed a couple of minutes later by a double attempt by Bevan Burey after Steve Irwin has set him up, his initial shot was blocked the second was saved by Marine goalkeeper Paul Phillips.

Skem had their best chance of the half on 25 minutes.

The energetic Howarth latched onto a crossfield