Dominant St Mary’s score three but let in

WEST LANCS LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION TEMPEST UNITED .......... 4 HAS ST MARY’S .............. 3 STEVE BAYES HASLINGDEN St Mary’s remain in the bottom two after conceding four goals for the second match in a row – but how St Mary’s lost this latest topsy-turvy match 4-3 at Tempest United is hard to believe as they dominated large periods of the game.

They fell behind on 21 minutes somewhat against the run of play when a left-sided corner was allowed to get to the back post where the Tempest player headed home. Seven minutes later they scored a second when a hasty clearance found a Tempest forward his fierce shot was brilliantly saved by Danny Bell but he couldn’t prevent a player following up to force the ball home.

St Mary’s hit back and a Sean Pearson free kick flashed just wide and a Scott Wylie effort was well saved but Tempest went in at the break with a two goal lead.

In the second half, St Mary’s forced the pace and after a couple of half chances they were rewarded on 57 when Pearson laid the ball to Wylie his fierce shot was parried by the keeper but captain Mickey Saunders fired the loose ball home.

St Mary’s equalised when the ball was played to Wylie in space 12 yards out and he smashed past the keeper into the corner of the net.

But as St Mary’s went in search of a winner two defensive mistakes on 80 and 85 minutes allowed Tempest to regain their two-goal advantaged.

Despite losing a player for a reckless challenge, St Mary’s kept pushing forward and on 90 minutes Saunders chased down a ball to the goal line, he laid it back into the path of Wylie on the edge of the box and he fired across the keeper with another fierce shot to cut the deficit to one. But