Atherton LR were denied a share of the spoils when hosts Cheadle Nomads grabbed a last-minute winner to edge Saturday’s pre-season friendly 2-1.

The game almost began perfectly for LR as a drive by Cristian Mukoko allowed him to thread a through ball to Kyle Robinson-Murray on the wing but ultimately an acrobatic stop denied the visitors an early lead.

The pressure gauge was not going down, however, as another fantastic run by Mukoko resulted in a foul at the edge of the box, leaving the referee with no choice to point to the spot.

The outcome was a calm penalty slotted down the middle by Mukoko.

Following this, several fantastic runs by Brandon Dawson allowed LR to cut deep into the Cheadle wings.

However, the deliveries were deflected out for corners which ultimately led to nothing.

Cheadle used the motivation to get themselves back into the game and they nearly did when a shot destined for the roof of the net was stopped dramatically by the trialist in goal for LR.

But it was ultimately a sign of things to come as a mistake at the back allowed Nomads to gain valuable space to get a curling shot away that nestled in the top corner - a classy equaliser before the break.

It was a lacklustre second half for LR despite the introduction of new signing Joe Bacon as Cheadle dealt with every counter-attack.

And they snuck home an effort in the 90th minute to seal a well-deserved win for them but a frustrating loss for the visitors.

LR boss Dave Jones admitted he was pleased with the opening half hour, but conceded the team had problems in “some final-third moments.”

He said: “The winner was a moment we can do better in.

“I thought we were really, really good at the start and all that hard work was suddenly undone.

“I thought we were off it in the second half, we didn’t get quite close enough to each other in the lines, a few lads looked a bit leggy.

“Overall, I thought we’d done well, Cheadle didn’t have masses of clear-cut chances and we managed them really, really well.

“It’s just them moments where you switch off, where you can’t afford to switch off.

“People tell you results aren’t important in pre-season, they are.

“It’s important getting into the right habits, you can’t just turn it on in two weeks, you need to get in the right habits.”

LR now look ahead to a home friendly against Glossop North End tonight.

Jones added: “They’re a Premier Division side, they’ve got good players and they’re a really big football club.”