Shot-shy Town fail to put an end to poor run
● RUNCORN TOWN ...................................... 0 CHARNOCK RICHARD............................. 2
RUNCORN TOWN were unable to arrest their slump in form on Tuesday night when they went down to another disappointing defeat, this time against fellow promotion hopefuls Charnock Richard.
The early pacesetters in the Hallmark Security League Premier Division have been enduring a rough time of late and it continued under the lights at Pavilions.
After a 2-0 reverse to high-flying Widnes FC in the Halton derby last Fri- day evening – see match report on page 49 – Chris Herbert’s outfit were desperate to get themselves back in the win column once again. But it was not to be.
Runcorn began brightly but the first real chance of the match arrived for the visitors just before the quarter-hour when a strike from Nathan Fairhurst cleared the Town crossbar.
The opening goal came almost halfan-hour in. From an Anthony Hough throw-in, the ball went straight to Matthew Davison who crashed an unstoppable shot past Andy Metcalf in the Runcorn goal.
Town’s forward forays were few and far between and it took until just around the hour mark when Charnock goalkeeper Adam Halton was called into action to make a routine save following a mistake in his rearguard.
Two minutes later Charnock doubled their advantage making Town’s task even more difficult. Joseph Noblet beat his Runcorn marker via a cheeky nutmeg and shot goalwards. Metcalf saved his effort but from the rebound, Charnock teammate Carl Grimshaw was on hand to tuck the ball away.
Davison, Noblet and Grimshaw all went close to increasing the visitors’ lead in the latter stages of the match but they were unable to add to their tally.
Meanwhile, for Runcorn it was a night to forget, the result meaning they have slipped down to fourth place in the division and are now 13 points adrift of leaders Runcorn Linnets although they do have one game in hand.
Town will be aiming to return to much-needed winning ways on Saturday when they entertain Irlam at Pavilions. The match kicks-off at 3pm.
Runcorn also have a midweek game next Tuesday when they visit Northwich Victoria. That match kicks-off at 7.45pm.