Battlers bow out

They conceded a soft goal before finding themselves on the wrong side of a dubious penalty.

Most teams would have buckled but the Combination fought back back to pull back the score to 2-1 with a goal by Brendon O'Shaunessy yet despite putting the Preston goal under siege for the rest of the game, failed to get the result they deserved.

In the delayed Tate Trophy Round One game, Ambassadors Res beat Ainsworth Res by 2-1.

Pride of place this week must go to the clash of the Combination's only two teams with 100 per cent records - Little Lever and Tottington United A - in their shoot-out at Little Lever in a game both teams wanted a win.

The old adage of a game of two halves applied in this game. Little Lever control from the start, playing some good football in a well-fought game played in good football spirit. As with most games of this calibre, one mistake can make the difference. Tottington's goalkeeper made it, and goal-machine John Done pounced to put Lever in front - a lead they held till half-time.

In the second half, Tottington saw their chance and took it to bring the score level at 1-1. Not long after this John Done Little Lever the lead 2-1. This set up a last exciting 10 minutes, with both teams playing some brilliant football and Tottington failing to get the equaliser.

Both teams meet again at Tottington on November 11 in a game both teams will be wanting to win.

In the other games in the division, Ladybridge took the three points from Howe Bridge Res 3-0 in a very difficult game, Ladybridge scorers were Lee Williams, Dean Taylor, and Paul McCormack.

Stoneclough Res entertained Hindsford Res only a week after giving them a good thrashing last Saturday.

In the first half, Stoneclough pressured Hindsfords who defended well but Stoneclough broke through to go 1-0 up and kept up the pressure until half-time. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Hindsford scored three goals in 20 minutes through John Light, Andy Hook and Ivor Casey, who made up for last week's blunders in front of goal.

Stoneclough fought back to make it 2-3. They were awarded a penalty which 'Man of the Match' Phil Anders saved to give Hindsford a deserved win.

Tyldesley United and Walkden AFC Res fought out a scrappy 2-2 draw. Simon Harwood gave United a 1-0 lead to see it wiped out by an equaliser by Neil Townley. In the second half, both defences were called on to do some quality defending as both teams created many chances until Frenchman Yves Tchapda gave Tyldesley the lead. John Morrison equalised to give Walkden a share of the points but not before 16 year old Barry Lowe gave them a scare going close with a shot in the last minutes of the game. Premier League champions Stoneclough went to Atherton C&N and soon found themselves two goals down to goals by Rob Graham.

Both teams playing some good end to end football, Stoneclough's in-form Paul Mellor put a smile on their manager's face with two well-taken goals to make it 2-2 at half-time.

The second half carried on in the same vein as the first with both teams playing some good football, C&N in the lead with a well-taken goal by Steve Brown.

Stoneclough put on the pressure and from a good cross Simon O'Brian scored in the top corner of the nets.

At 3-3 Stoneclough went all out for the winner and Dave Morris dutifully obliged to give them three points to go to the top of the division.

Ambassadors and Farnworth CC played out this scrappy but hard-fought physical game with Ambassadors taking the lead through Rob Graham early in the game and comfortably held it to half-time.

Mick Collins from close range brought Farnworth back into the game before John Ortlip scored the winner for Ambassadors.

British Aerospace dominated the first 20 minutes of this game with some very good fast flowing football which was exciting to watch.

Andy Charnley put Aerospace in the lead on the first two minutes with a good goal Bolton Lads Club tried hard to reply but Aerospace were on the attack again and in the eighth minute Dean Whittle put them two goals up.

Bolton Lads Club kept on attacking but Aerospace kept in command to half time. Lads Club came out in the second half the stronger side with three good chances, but Aerospace's keeper Mathew Brown saved them with good saves to keep their lead intact.

Lads Club kept up the pressure and in the 60th and 85th, Salim Mitha equalised. In the 86th minute sub Chris Smiley got Aerospace's third to record their first win of the season and a much-needed three points.

Hindsford took an early lead against Walkden through a goal from Danny Twist. The games between these two teams tend to be hard-fought games and this was no exception.

Walkden played up the hill in the first half but a mistake gave being the reason for Hindsford's early lead. Not to be outdone, a poor back pass gave Walkden's Alan Litherland the chance to equalise.

The second half saw both teams playing some poor football but Hindsford's Lee Thompson got the winner late in the game.

Hindley Green Res were the better team in a scoreless half with some good football played by both teams and good shots saved by both goalkeepers.

Second half saw Blackrod come out with a bit more power with five minutes to go. Darren Hewitt gave them the lead then Andrew Mulligan with a great shot scored their second in a 2-0 win.

Turton took an early lead in this high-scoring game. Farnworth fought back to make it 2-1 but Turton took control and added another goal to go in at half-time in command 3-1.

In the second, Farnworth came back back with some good football to make it 3-2 then a good move down the centre gave Carl Turner the chance to level the scores at 3-3.

Turton again took the lead 4-3 before Farnworth banged in two goals to win the game. Scorers for Turton Adam Bullough, Peter Howard (2) and Nigel Young, and for Farnworth Res, Nick Guinane, Julien Edmmundson and Chris Turner (3).

Monton Amateurs' Brad Greenhalgh got their only goal in reply to goals from Steve Harris, Ken Fisher, Andy Rowbottom, Tom Buck, Garth Hilton and Pete Jackson. Adlington Athletic beat bottom of the table Howe Bridge Mills with a hat-trick from Martin Thompson, one each from Phil Arrowsmith and Tony Moore in a 5-2 victory. John Cassidy scored both Howe Bridge goals. After this weekend the Combination has three teams left in the Lancashire Football Association Adidas Shield Competition. Hindley Green beat Fleetwood Hesketh 4-2 at Fleetwood with goals by John Clarke (2), Manny Flores and Chris Mitchinson.

Summerseat away to Waggon & Horses came back the winners 1-0, Duncan Edwards the hit man.

In the all-Bolton Combination game at Walkers both Ainsworth and Walkers Leisure played a cracking game of football that was a credit to the Combination.

Rob Billington's hat-trick for Walkers against strikes from Paul Roscoe, Denzil Taylor, Ryse Taylor and Damien Ward saw Ainsworth through to the next round. First Division: Adlington Athletic 5, Howe Bridge Mills 2; Blackrod Town 2, Hindley Green Res 0; Monton Amateurs 1, Atherton C&N Res 6; Turton 4, Farnworth CC Res 5.

Second Division: Ladybridge 3, Howe Bridge Mills Res 0; Little Lever 2, Tottington Utd A 1; Stoneclough Res 2, Hindsford AFC Res 3; Tyldesley Utd 2, Walkden AFC Res 2.

Premier Division: Ambassadors 2, Farnworth CC 1; Atherton C&N 3, Stoneclough 4; British Aerospace 3, Bolton Lads Club 'OB' 2; Hindsford AFC 2, Walkden AFC.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.