Club heading the right way as magical 100-points mark is attained
ribbons – league chairman Lawler, having presented the trophy to delighted Linnets skipper Hamid and equally ecstatic teammates, scooting out of the way just in time to escape the time-honoured AFC Liverpool 1 Runcorn Linnets 2 AFTER the joy of Thursday evening when they secured the crown, Runcorn Linnets were back in action on Saturday afternoon – and they made it to the magical 100 points mark with a 2-1 victory at AFC Liverpool.
The visitors started the game well and showed no sign of any lack of ruthlessness just because the title was secure.
The Reds struggled to deal spraying of champagne.
Runcorn Linnets will hope that claiming their maiden title, on the back of their first winners’ trophy in the 2013 League Challenge Cup, is another stepping stone to further success. with the movement of Mitch Bryant and Louis Corrigan and Stuart Wellstead proved a handful in the early exchanges.
And it was Wellstead who nodded Linnets into the lead on 12 minutes from a wellflighted corner, the forward heading home from closerange.
Linnets pushed for a second goal and played some quality stuff as the half went on, Bryant in particular again providing moments of brilliance almost scoring from
Meanwhile Runcorn Town can take inspiration from their rivals’ triumph – just as the Linnets had done on the final day of the 2015-16 season, when Glossop North End paraded the same trophy at the Millbank nothing before putting the ball on a plate for skipper Kyle Hamid, who came close to doubling Runcorn’s lead.
Bryant would eventually get a goal in the 36th minute after Wellstead forced a good stop from goalkeeper Jack Ferguson.
The AFC No.1 palmed the ball against the crossbar but Bryant followed the ball in and nodded it over the line.
AFC looked a different side after the restart though, the change in fortunes linked strongly to the introduction Linnets Stadium as champions. from the bench of Elliott Nevitt but not exclusively because of that.
They just clicked better, were more composed in possession and players began to express themselves and so began creating more for each other.
And it was Nevitt who cut the deficit in half with 20 minutes remaining in the encounter.
The striker picked up the ball out wide, dropped his shoulder and shifted on to his strong foot before absolutely ● smashing the ball from just inside the area right into the roof of the net giving Linnets keeper Dylan Forth no chance of stopping.
Both teams had goals ruled out by the referee in the closing stages but Linnets held on to register their 31st win out of 43 matches and a brilliant 100 points too.