Whyte treble does the job
BY NEIL LEATHERBARROW
BURSCOUGH made progress in the Macron Cup (League Cup) on Saturday when they saw off the challenge of their opponents from Cheshire at Victoria Park.
Centre-forward Chad Whyte was the star of the show with his hattrick, two in the opening seven minutes and another in added time, taking him to 18 goals for the season.
It is a long time since the Linnets faced a team from Sandbach, in the past it was Sandbach Ramblers, their successors United entering the North-West Counties League during the summer and making it a tough afternoon for Burscough.
Burscough got off to a whirlwind start and were 2-0 up inside seven minutes.
Whyte opened the scoring after just three minutes, the Linnets talisman making it two just four minutes later when a Sandbach attack broke down and Alberto Canache led the counterattack, finishing the move by setting up Whyte for his second goal of the game.
After that Sandbach were arguably the better team until half-time, Burscough were struggling to get used to some tactical changes that were initiated by new manager Terry Green and their usual passing fluency was just not evident.
In the tenth minute Sandbach threatened but Burscough goalkeeper Max Povey was able to deal with Ryan Allcock’s header by grasping the ball.
Five minutes later though it was definitely game on when Will Buckley pulled a goal back for the visitors.
Really the best Burscough could muster was a 41st minute free-kick that came to nothing.
It was clear within seconds of the restart that Burscough had had an interval sorting out and they lined up with the 4-4-2 system that has served them well over the last few months.
After a foul on Yves Zama, Whyte went close from the ensuing freekick.
This was followed by a series of Burscough corners but Sandbach held on and still posed some problems on the breakaway.
Sandbach goalkeeper Ryan Moss was much busier making one good save from a free-kick and various other interventions.
It started to get quite edgy in the last 20 minutes, a draw would send the game to penalties and the thought seemed to pressure Burscough and give Sandbach hope.
Sandbach actually got the ball into the Linnets net but an assistant’s flag saved Burscough, then with six minutes to go a Josh Lane free-kick was cleared.
The game was entering added time when Burscough took advantage of the space now allowed them at the back of the Sandbach defence, Zama went into the penalty area from the left and was fouled, Whyte stepping up to convert the spot-kick and save his sides blushes.
In their defence, Burscough were missing the useful trio of Terry Cummings, Peter Henerty and Matty Ward, but they did enough to go through to the third round of the cup.
However, luck didn’t shine on them in the draw for the next round, when they drew as difficult a draw as they probably could have done; league leaders City of Liverpool away on Saturday, December 8.
BURSCOUGH: Povey, Grier, Clark, Brady ©, Gibson, Ekpolo, Owens, Canache, Whyte, Palmer, Zama Subs Doherty, White, Green
SANDBACH UNITED: Moss, Chadwick, Ledwards, O’Riordan, Stockton, Rowntree ©, Twigg, Jackson, Davies, Allcock, Buckley Subs Knight, Lane, Cooper, Kirby, Haughton
Referee: Oliver Noonan Attendance: 90