First taste of defeat on the road for Stags
WEST LANCASHIRE LEAGUE DIVISION 2 LONGRIDGE TOWN .... 2 ROSSENDALE FC ........ 0
ON Saturday the Stags tasted defeat for the first time this season on their travels to Longridge Town FC and in doing so lost a valuable opportunity to gain ground on leaders Walney Island FC who had no fixture this week.
The Stags started very brightly in what was always going to be a tough away fixture and in the first 30 minutes if they had taken their chances could easily have been 5-0 up.
Tom Hulme had an early one on one with the goalkeeper but his chipped attempt as he came off his line went wide of the goal and moments after that he was slipped in again by Harry Buckley but this time the keeper saved as he opted to shoot.
Next to go close was Scot Wylie as he couldn’t connect well enough with a cross that found him free in the box, before Buckley missed a good chance to put the away side in front with a free header in the box that went agonisingly over the bar.
Longridge weren’t even in the game at this point, Rossendale were competing for everything and looked well up for it.
After 30 minutes thought the tide began to change and Longridge upped their game, challenged more, passed the ball better and just took Rossendale out of their rhythm. They nearly took the lead just before half time but Adam Mcinnes somehow managed to head clear a cross that was destined for the Longridge strikers head on the line and what would have been a cruel blow.
The sides went in at half time 0-0 with and all Rossendale had to do was come back out the way they started, but unfortunately they came back out the way they went in and within minutes keeper Joe Sipocz who returned from an injury made a great point
●● Tom Hulme blank save from the Longridge striker.
For much of the second half neither side were creating many chances and the game became a bit of a war of attrition on midfiled. Rossy couldn’t find any quality in the middle of the park and looked blunt in attack.
Longridge always looked dangerous on crosses and set pieces. They took the lead on 76 minutes following a poorly conceded free kick, a cross into the box and the Longridge striker powered home a header.
The Stags tried to get forward more and press for an equaliser, Simpson had a tremendous effort saved by the Longridge keeper, but despite the pressure it was Longridge who ended up adding a second goal late on when they broke down the left hand side and a shot from distance beat Sipocz who had no chance.
Manager Ray Davis said “I can’t really comment on the game and performance as I wasn’t there this week, but the only positive I can take is we gave 17-year-old Harry Buckley his first start and also 16-year-old Alex Nuttall got 30 minutes and by all accounts they did well in what was a tough fixture, but apart from that I’m really disappointed that we’ve not taken our chances and not given everything for 90 minutes.
“We have enough talent to beat any team in this league, but if they don’t work hard talent is not enough.
“It makes Saturday a must win fixture and it’s a tough one away at Dalton United FC. The pressure is on the boys now and they’ve got to react it’s as simple as that.”