Slow start has Rammy on back foot

EVO-STIK NORTH RAMSBOTTOM .............1 SCARBOROUGH ...........3 JON HASLAM RAMSBOTTOM United took on high flying Scarborough on Tuesday night in their first home fixture since January 5th with a starting line-up showing five changes from the weekend defeat at Prescot Cables.

Making their Rams debuts were Jay Sheridan and Chinedu Uche who both arrived on loan from Oldham Athletic while Sam Madeley arrived from Curzon Ashton, also returning to the starting eleven were Jamie Rother and Greg Daniels.

It was Scarborough who made a stunning start to the match when within a minute of the kick off a superb run and shot from Max Wright was saved by Ashton only for the ball to fall kindly for Scarborough Walshaw who dribbled around the Rams keeper before tapping the ball into the net.

The home side responded with Madeley sending an effort narrowly wide, but Scarborough would double their advantage with just five minutes played when a short corner was played to the edge of the penalty area before it appeared Wright wrestled Uche to the ground, the ball then fell to Coulson who arrowed a low shot into the corner of the net giving Ashton no chance.

The Rams struggled to make any significant inroads into the Scarborough rearguard. The home sides frustration surfaced as skipper Stott was booked for a late tackle but this appeared to lift the hosts as Uche almost capitalised on excellent work by Jerome Wright before the former’s goalbound effort was blocked by Sugden.

Scarborough were continuing to show plenty of attacking intent as the impressive duo of Clark and Coulson were providing a threat every time they picked up the ball while looking to increase their lead but stoic defending from the Rams and some inaccurate finishing kept the scoreline at 2-0 with half an hour completed.

As the half wore on the home side began to gain more of a foothold in the game and with 35 minutes played they created their best piece of attacking play when sublime control and an astute pass from Daniels gave Madeley a chance at goal but his effort narrowly missed the target.

Both sides emerged unchanged after the restart and after an initial spell of early Rams pressure it was Scarborough who almost grabbed a third goal when another run from Clark ended with a shot which brought the best out of Ashton to deny the tricky wide man.

As the hour mark approached and no change in the scoreline the hosts made an attacking substitution with Stott being replaced by Heathcote,

The change almost had an immediate impact as the deficit was almost halved when a superb run and cross from Jerome Wright found its way into the visitors box before the ball was laid back by Daniels to Heathcote but his first time shot was inches wide.

A third goal would arrive with just less that 20 minutes remaining when a corner was cleared but Scarborough kept the attack alive and a clever pass on the edge of the box found defender Hewitt who confidently side footed past Ashton from just inside the penalty area.

With time ticking away a triple save from Taylor in the Scarborough goal denied Heathcote and Mohammed twice.

On 83 minutes the Rams were rewarded for a spirited second half performance when Daniels converted from just inside the box.