Skem left out in the cold as Colne edge the win
SKELMERSDALE United will have returned home from an icy East Lancashire on Tuesday night feeling luck was against them.
After struggling for the opening twenty minutes they recovered to have more of the possession and arguably more of the chances, but were ultimately beaten by a wonder goal and a number of wonderful saves from an ex-Liverpool Champions League squad goalkeeper. Skem have spent weeks struggling to create chances but on a night on which they did create them they came across a goalkeeper in inspired form.
Skelmersdale manager Dave Powell made one change from the side that drew at Bamber Bridge on Saturday, Bevan Burey replacing Tyler Rufus in the number 11 shirt, as Skem took to what appeared to be more like the Arctic Tundra than a football field.
It took Skelmersdale a while to adapt to the sloping frozen pitch too, which in several opinions was unfit to play on.
The opening period was in the main dominated by Colne, but after two minutes it might have been Skem that took the lead.
Seemingly under no pressure home defender Simon Nangle slipped on the surface and the ball ran to Skelmersdale’s Tom Hulme who was only denied by a brilliant full length tip around the post by Colne goalkeeper Hakan Burton.
It was not going to be an easy night for any defender and soon Colne had Skelmersdale on the back foot and Skelmersdale goalkeeper Lee Callum Roberts made an excellent save low down from an Ollie Crankshaw shot.
In the ninth minute Colne started a neat build-up down the right, eventually the ball was sent toward the penalty spot where it found Bradley Knox running in from the edge of the area, this time his low skimming shot went into the Skem net to make it 1-0.
Within a minute Skelmersdale almost came back, again Burton saving from Hulme.
From the half-hour mark Skelmersdale had Colne on the defensive.
First a Jack Fleming free-kick was deflected wide.
In the 37th minute Burton pulled off a save that wasn’t brilliant, it was miraculous.
Burey sprinted down the right and fired in a first time cross, Jack Lenehan ran onto the ball and met it with a powerful diving header.
Somehow Burton got a hand to the ball and sent it crashing against the underside of the crossbar. Burton pounced and grabbed the loose ball.
A minute into added time before the interval Colne turned defence into attack in the most spectacular way.
Crankshaw took possession midway inside the Colne half on the left, he then went between two challenges and stayed on his feet in a style that would have warranted ten out of ten on Dancing on Ice.
He set off at pace along the left, cutting inside another challenge, then took the ball along the Skelmersdale 18 yard line before unleashing a thunderous shot wide of Roberts into the Skelmersdale net to crucially, as it turned out, make it 2-0.
Skelmersdale came out for the second-half and for 20 minutes or so were the better outfit. However they were still finding it hard to break through.
When they did in the 58th minute it boosted their confidence greatly.
The goal came after Burey in a central position had a shot blocked, he tried again and the ball went to the far post, Jordan Darr came in from the right and fired home his fourth goal for the club since joining on loan from Chorley.
It was now game on and Skelmersdale looked more likely to equalise than Colne hold out, but again Burton came to Colne’s rescue, sheer fast reactions keeping out a close point blank header.
In the last ten minutes it evened up a bit, but that was mainly because Skelmersdale now had to commit more players into attack and Colne on the counterattack were able to take advantage of the space.
On 80 minutes Josh Wardle made one top class tackle to keep out Colne’s highly impressive number ten Alex Curran, then Roberts made a save from the same man.
As everyone waited for the final whistle Fleming cleared one off the line from Crankshaw while up the slope Skelmersdale threw a series of crosses into the home penalty area.
Sadly for Skem Colne did hold out, Skelmersdale will play much worse and win, things just didn’t go their way on the night.