Irlam in semis for ‘best’ Burscough
BURSCOUGH manager Dave Sutton was excited enough after his team’s Macron Cup Quarter-Final victory over Northwich Victoria to describe his sides showing as “The best first-half performance I have seen all season.” He was probably right too. Burscough had dominated the Vics for almost the entire opening half and at the interval the main question was how the Linnets had only managed to score twice.
The second-half was a different story as Northwich piled the pressure on and halved the deficit.
But Burscough generally held on well.
Burscough were without Alex Parkes who is suspended until Monday but they did have Matty Ward returning after a back injury and he partnered Chad Whyte up front, also back in the team was Prince Ekpolo wide on the left.
It was Ward who launched the first salvo for the Linnets in the second minute. A Jamie Clark corner was only partially cleared and Ward’s follow up shot from 18 yards brought a good save out of Northwich goalkeeper Mike Donlon.
Burscough were playing some flowing football and had far more of the possession, but they worryingly lost Ward on 22 minutes, clearly his injury reoccurring and he was replaced by Peter Henerty.
The pressure continued and in the 24th minute Burscough grabbed the lead.
Clark’s corner went deep to the far post, from where defender Luke Gibson put a cross onto the head of central defensive partner Rex Kimona-Puissance, his header was blocked and the ball dropped to Whyte, the big striker slamming home his 38th competitive goal of the season to make it 1-0.
Whyte had a header saved and Henerty had a goal disallowed for offside, then in the 40th minute, Burscough made it 2-0. A corner dropped in the Vics area and after one shot was blocked the ball went to Terry Cummings who fired home through a forest of legs.
To be fair Burscough had been unlucky not to be more than two goals up at half-time and in the five minutes before Henerty brought a great near-post save out of Donlon and Whyte was frustrated by the crossbar with a chip over a stranded Donlon.
Half the ground must have heard the shouting from the Northwich dressing room during the break and it was no surprise at all that they reappeared a motivated side, going immediately went onto the offensive.
However, despite the Vic’s bombardment Burscough weathered things well and barring one massive bout of bagatelle in the goalmouth they kept the visitors at bay.
It was an error in the Burscough defence that allowed Northwich back into the game on 69 minutes. Substitute Rory Gorman drove a corner to the nearpost and it was missed by the Linnets near post man, the ball falling perfectly for another Vics sub Oliver Walker who finished well from a few yards out.
Northwich did come close once more. On 77 minutes the Burscough defence allowed another corner past the nearpost man and Kieron Kenny headed against the near-post.
The last ten minutes saw Burscough holding on well and although the referee had plenty of complaints when he signalled four minutes added time, Burscough were not in a great deal of danger.
Linnets manager Dave Sutton has one job to do in training on Thursday night; that is sorting out how to defend corners that are driven into the near-post area, but his main worry will be making sure talisman centre-forward Chad Whyte is fit for some crucial Easter fixtures after the vicious kicking he took.
The draw was made for the Macron Cup (League Cup) semifinal straight after the game. It is Widnes v Winsford United and Irlam v Burscough. Both ties will be played over two legs, the second at Victoria Park. The dates are to be announced but it was stated that the final will be at Fleetwood Town’s Highbury Stadium.