Boss praise for ‘superb’ showing

NICK Matthews hailed his ‘superb’ Burscough side after their 2-1 victory over Squires Gate on Saturday moved them four points clear of the NWCFL Premier Division relegation zone.

Burscough had not turned out since the second weekend of February due to consecutive postponements with former Pilkington boss Matthews admitting he was at fault for a tactical error during the 1-0 loss to Avro at Victoria Park.

Linnets, however, enjoyed an instant response after first-half strikes from Chris Lomax and Kevin Pollard secured a third win in five matches.

“The lads were superb today,” Matthews said. “In truth we got our tactics wrong in our previous home game against Avro and rightly got beat.

“We got off to a great start [against Squires Gate], scoring after two minutes through Chris and we controlled the game from then on.

“Defensively we were solid and I still think we can look after the ball a bit better in the final third and be more clinical with the chances we create but all in all we set up to get three points and that’s what we achieved.”

Centre-back River Humphreys started the campaign with Matthews at Burscough but completed a move to NWCFL First Division North high-fliers Lower Breck last week.

Humphreys finished runner-up in Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker television programme in 2010 before winning a month-long trial at Football League outfit Rochdale in 2016.

“Delighted to announce the signing of River Humphreys who comes in to bolster our defensive numbers for the title/ promotion run in,” Lower Breck said in a statement released on social media.

“River lists Witton Albion, Runcorn Linnets, Widnes and Burscough amongst his [former] clubs and will add great experience and quality at this stage of the season.”

Ashton Athletic visit Victoria Park this weekend as Burscough begin a run of three matches in seven days.