Brooke’s brilliance lifts Linnets up into fourth spot

NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE WEST DIVISION CLITHEROE ............................... 1 RUNCORN LINNETS ................ 2

THE early season two-games-per-week onslaught continued with a Pitching In NPL West trip to Clitheroe’s Shawbridge,

Clitheroe were also the league’s top scorers, with 18 in six matches.

The opening minutes bore out that impression, with three home attacks before the visitors were able to respond. But the Runcorn defence maintained its track record of slamming the door shut.

In the seventh minute, after a handful of far better chances, Clitheroe took the lead out of nothing. Ross Dent’s low shot found its way unhindered through a crowded penalty area and rolled into the bottom left corner.

After 25 minutes, Murray flicked the ball over the defence to find Dapo Olarewaju.

He raced Billy Priestley for it, goalkeeper Chris Thompson advancing, and a moment’s indecision between the two Clitheroe men enabled Olarewaju to get the first touch. Thompson got a hand to it, but it didn’t prevent the ball from reaching the net.

A two-handed shove in the back then provided Murray with the chance to give Runcorn an unlikely lead from the penalty spot.

He strove to keep the ball low into the wind, and hit it a little too straight as Thompson dived the right way. The ball squirmed under his body, but he caught it well before it could reach the line.

Ten minutes into the second half came the decisive strike – and a goal worthy of winning any game.Louis Hayes found

Ryan Brooke on the edge of the penalty area, with his back to goal and a gang of defenders around him.

He switched left, right, back and forward with the ball, five men unable to dispossess him and not daring to launch a tackle – given that their ‘keeper had already saved once from the spot, conceding a penalty might have been their best option.

Brooke manipulated the forest of blue and white closer to goal, and having picked his way through the maze, he spied just enough of a gap to blast a shot through, and above Thompson into the roof of the net, the victory leaving Linnets fourth in the table. RUNCORN LINNETS: Joe Young, Ally Brown (Peter Wylie 45), James Short, Louis Hayes, Carl Spellman, Sean O’Mahony, Eden Gumbs (Stuart Crilly 62), Jacques Welsh, Ryan Brooke, Iwan Murray (Joe Lynch 74), Dapo Olarewaju. Subs not used: Ollie Haywood, Laurence Smith. Attendance: 550.