Tale of two keepers as Bacup suffer

NW COUNTIES DIVISION ONE ABBEY HULTON UTD . 4 BACUP BOROUGH ....... 1 SHELDAN KEAY BACUP Borough came up short on Saturday after they suffered a defeat against Abbey Hulton United at Birches Head Road.

The outcome of this game was decided by the contrasting efforts of both goalkeepers, as the home side’s stopper Luke Birkinshaw was outstanding, especially in the first half when facing constant wave of Bacup Borough attacks.

Birkinshaw pulled off vital saves from Joshua Walne, Anthony Hall and Matthew Barlow, and these saves were vital given that the Bacup keeper Josh Harris started the game with a damaged shoulder he sustained in the warm up.

If this was difficult enough, it was not helped when in the second half Harris’s back went into spasm, restricting his movement, resulting in the most simplest of balls going sailing past him which under normal circumstances would have been easily dealt with.

Bacup had not been in action for two weeks, and were without the services of defender Conor Porter and striker Matthew Bryan, who was best man at a wedding.

Bacup played well in the first half, but due to the form of Birkinshaw, the visitors could not turn their superiority into goals.

When Birkenshaw was beaten by a super shot from Matthew Barlow, his strike struck the underside of the crossbar before dropping to the goal line, with Anthony Hall not anticipating by not following in.

Abbey Hulton were limited to one effort in this time, which was a header over the Bacup crossbar, but they did eventually take the lead, and given the dominance from Bacup Borough it did come as somewhat of a shock.

A long ball up the pitch was not dealt with by the Bacup keeper, who will be somewhat disappointed he did not deal with it, allowing Hulton to bundle the ball over the line and make it 1-0 at half-time.

Following the break, Bacup manager Brent Peters and his team were not aware of the serious implications Harris’s injury was restricting him to, but they were soon to find out.

Peters made his first substitution and changed his team’s shape by taking off midfield player Joshua Walne and introducing striker and leading scorer Wayne Morrison.

With three strikers now on the field of play, Bacup were hoping to get that all elusive equaliser, but Bacup conceded a second goal and what a disaster goal it proved to be.

The ball was crossed from Bacup’s left, and Harris stopped in no man’s land, allowing Abbey Hulton’s striker to tap the ball into the net.

Bacup got themselves a goal back with some really good play which ended with Elliott Collinson striking the ball across the Abbey Hulton’s keeper into the net, leading to Peters making a second positive substitution by introducing another attacking option in Benjamin Rhodes, taking off defender Kevin Masirika.

Before Rhodes could make an impact, Harris’ injury again played an important contribution by the fact he struggled to get his angles right and was beaten easily at his near post, making it 3-1.

It then got worse for Bacup when their fourth goal came, with Harris’s injury also playing a big part in their goal when he initially stopped the ball from the corner but palmed it down, allowing the Abbey Hulton player to score and make the final score 4-1.