From the ridiculous to the sublime

IF Burscough are going to be relegated they are not going to go down without a fight.

After Saturday’s debacle at Colne much the same was expected in Derbyshire, especially as Glossop are higher in the league than Colne.

But despite going 1-0 down, then conceding an equaliser late on, the Linnets got up off the canvas and scored a spectacular winner in the 88th minute.

It might not ultimately save them but it will give them plenty of spirit to fight on.

Glossop opened up looking the better team and pounced on an error by Burscough in the 17th minute to grab the lead.

Linnets goalkeeper Ritchie Mottram was put under pressure by a bad back pass that he lost control of; Ben Richardson won the ball and scored from an acute angle.

Mottram made up for any blame that might be aimed at him with a pair of saves on 31 minutes that kept Burscough in the match, first forcing Richardson wide when the forward was one-on-one, then after a goal-line clearance he made another save from the rebound.

Apart from two incidents Burscough did defend well in the first-half, but the second period was a lot more even.

As the game went on Burscough gained confidence and on 72 minutes they were rewarded when a Lee Hughes shot beat Cooper at his near-post.

Three minutes later Burscough went 2-1 up; Hughes was again the marksman heading just inside the post.

Glossop forced Burscough back, Max Leonard, Karl Jones and Richardson all saw goalbound efforts saved by Mottram until with four minutes to go Karl Jones was put clean in on goal, this time he slotted past Mottram, the equaliser leaving Burscough fearing the worst.

However, it wasn’t the worst that was to follow for Burscough but the best. In the 88th minute a ball was cleared from the Glossop area high into the night sky and dropped to Adam Gilchrist 25 yards from goal, he let the ball bounce once then volleyed a left foot shot that dropped over Cooper into the net in textbook fashion.

In a frantic last few minutes Glossop got one chance, a knock down dropping to Leonard, but Mottram went sprawling to his right and the danger was over.