Wheelie good win as Chorlton well beaten
BURSCOUGH extended their unbeaten league run to nine games with their sixth away win of the season last Saturday.
At the same time they defeated two former Linnets – Dave Powell who has taken over the manager’s chair at the Brookburn Road club since leaving Skelmersdale and ex-Greens striker Ciaran Kilheeney who was in the home team’s line-up, as was exSkelmersdale goalkeeper Marcus Burgess.
Burscough were without regular defensive partners Luke Gibson and Danny Brady for the encounter.
Although Burscough won quite handily in the end, it might have been a different story as West Didsbury had the ball in the Linnets’ net in the ninth minute, Kilheeney heading home but having his celebrations curtailed by a raised flag from an assistant referee.
In the 14th minute Burscough struck the opener, Prince Ekpolo firing the ball low past keeper Burgess.
West Didsbury fought back but the Linnets’ rearguard was having none of it and held them pretty much at arm’s length when they went onto the attack.
Just on the half-hour Burscough gave themselves a level of security with a second goal. The home defence struggled to clear their lines as Burscough harassed them. The ball fell to Connor Finlayson and he netted to double the lead.
Linnets boss Terry Green has put together a confident outfit since his arrival at Burscough and after settling down they had dominated the first half of the game, limiting West Didsbury to not much in the way of chances.
Soon after the interval Burscough had one big scare. Steve Hall set up Kilheeney but he directed the ball past an upright and Burscough could breathe again.
In the 55th minute Burscough went 3-0 up. Some over-elaborate passing in the home defence was punished by some pressing Linnets forwards. Jordan Lorde intercepted a ball across the backline and gave Burgess no chance at all with his shot at goal.
West Didsbury did get some brief hope eight minutes from the end.
Joe Faux cut in from the right wing and fired a commendable shot across Burscough goalkeeper Max Povey and into the far corner of the net.
However, the hopes the home team had was completely killed off in the 86th minute, Chad Whyte making sure his name was on the matchday honours list with his 29th goal of the season.
It was an excellent win for a patched-up Burscough lifting them into fifth place in the Hallmark Security League Premier Division table.
Since Powell’s arrival in the west of Manchester, West Didsbury had not lost at home as they moved out of the drop zone, so they posed serious opposition.
Burscough will have to find similar form if they are to retain their unbeaten run this Saturday as they face the daunting task of travelling to Congleton Town who are second in the league and have only dropped six points at home all season. The match at the Cheshire Silk 106.9 Stadium kicks-off at 3pm.