Bacup feel under the weather at Pilkington

PILKINGTON .................. 2 BACUP.............................. 1

THE North West Counties League Division One North is a demanding league to compete in, and over the past few weeks Brent Peters’ Bacup Borough team have quickly come to realise that every game is going to be a challenge.

Last weekend against Pilkington, on a 4G surface, Boro found it difficult to get going and find any kind of momentum, with the first 30 minutes of the game belonging to the hosts.

A goal within three minutes for Pilkington had you feeling that this could become a long, wet afternoon in St Helens.

The home side continued to probe in search of a second, and if it wasn’t for some excellent goalkeeping from Harry Turner it could have quite easily been a game out of sight before the break.

Boro did start to ask some questions with good running from Kyle Siddle down the wing and strong purposeful bursts through the middle by midfielder Callum Hewitt, and it would be that duo who would get Boro back in the game.

Siddle came inside to pick up a loose ball in the centre circle and with a nicely threaded pass found Hewitt running through on goal, and from eight yards out the Whitworth lad calmly slotted home to level.

The remainder of the first half would see Pilkington continue to press forward and put pressure on the Boro defence who managed to stand strong under a barrage of attacks.

The youthful Boro did start the second half in a more positive manner with Toby Wright becoming a menace in the Pilkington box.

New signing Lewis Byrne was also introduced with 35 minutes to go, and you felt that Brent Peters could sense his team picking up all three points in this one.

But as Boro began to venture forward in search of a winner the hosts broke free from a Bacup free-kick inside their own half, and a perfectly timed tackle by Ross Mallinson was adhered to have been a foul inside the box and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

From the resulting penalty kick Pilkington slotted beyond Harry Turner to give them a 2-1 lead.

Later on in the game it would get worse for boro. Kyle Siddle sent off with a straight red for dissent, making the afternoon a pain in the rain.

Speaking after the match, Peters said: “We’ve got to be professional in every aspect of our game.

“The preparations were not right today. It didn’t feel right and if you don’t prepare you will be punished.

“There’s some good teams in this league and you can’t just rock up and expect to roll the opposition over, it isn’t happening.”

Boro were also in action on Tuesday evening at home to Steeton AFC.

And on an extremely blustery and wet night, Peters’ side managed to play out a 3-3 draw with goals from Ryan Siddle, Michael Gervin and a injury time equaliser by Joey Fallon, setting things up for another big game this weekend at home to AFC Blackpool.

Kick off is 3.00pm.