A fine second half comeback from Daisy Hill earned them their first away win of the season in the North West Counties League First Division North on Saturday, with a 3-1 victory over league new boys Thornton Cleveleys, writes Ian Templeman.

A goal down at the break, a penalty from Jake O'Brien and a fine strike from Krisel Prifti put Daisy ahead within eight minutes of the restart, and a third goal from Ryan Talbot six minutes from time sealed the win.

However, despite the result, Daisy's Assistant Manager Dave Turner said afterwards that there was still room for improvement in the squad's performance.

“You can’t be disappointed with three points, the win is the main thing”, said Turner.

“But as for the manner of the performance, we are not happy.

“At half time, we told the players it wasn’t good enough, hence we made three changes. It worked, because we scored two early goals in the second half and got on the front foot, but we need to have a good look at how we played.

“The players had the hair drier treatment at half time and it worked, because we came out in the second half and probably should have scored another three at least, and that’s not being disrespectful to Thornton Cleveleys.

“They are a good side, they won the West Lancashire League last season and are in this league on merit, and had a great win at Darwen in midweek.

“But when we look back at our chances, they were not just half chances, they were really good chances and we are a bit disappointed that we have not scored a few more goals today

“There’s nobody singing in the dressing room, there’s a feeling that we got out of jail a bit in the second half.

“We weren’t ruthless enough, and we will address that, and we will work on that in training.

“We’ve got a home game on Monday night now against Steeton, and we will look to right the wrongs of the performance here.

“It’s given us food for thought for Monday, and we will probably be talking about plans for the game for the rest of the weekend.

“But for now we take the three points, tick this one off, and move on to Monday”.

On a warm and sunny afternoon, Daisy began on the front foot, and created the first chance on 3 minutes when Kyle Whittaker sent Ryan Lockett in on goal for a shot that was pushed away by Thornton Cleveleys keeper Mark Smith.

A few minutes later Robbie Woolford’s free kick was turned over the bar by Ben Unsworth, as Daisy continued to apply the pressure, and at the midway point of the half, a well struck volley from Lockett was smartly tipped over by keeper Smith.

Thornton Cleveleys were unexpectedly reduced to ten men just after the half hour mark when Archie Lang was shown a second yellow card, but against the run of play, it was the home side who broke the deadlock with the opening goal on 35 minutes.

Jacob Aspinall was given time and space to advance into the box and square the ball across to the unmarked Jordan Beavers at the far post, and he tapped in from close range.

It was a tough blow to take, given Daisy’s domination of the half, and although they finished on the front foot with Lockett playing Kaiden Barlow in on goal for a shot that just missed the far post, three substitutions at the start of the second half gave an indication of the Daisy management team's thoughts on the opening 45 minutes.

With Dean Singleton, Alex Dodd and Ryan Talbot introduced, Daisy were back in the game within four minutes of the restart, thanks to a Jake O’Brien penalty.

A good tackle by Talbot won the ball in midfield, and he played a pass to Barlow whose run towards goal was ended when he was tripped inside the penalty box.

The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and Daisy skipper O'Brien levelled the scores with a coolly taken spot kick.

Almost immediately Dean Singleton was close to getting a second goal when he got a touch on a corner kick swung into the box, but keeper Smith grabbed the ball on the line.

However, Smith was left helpless two minutes later when Daisy took the lead for the first time, with Declan Baldwin winning the ball on the edge of the box before laying a pass into the path of Krisel Prifti who buried a shot low into the corner of the net.

From then, the flow of play was almost entirely towards the home goal as Daisy looked to press home their advantage.

A Prifti shot that flew over, two efforts from Dodd in as many minutes that just missed the target could have increased their advantage, and then when Jamie Ramwell was introduced as a substitute, with his first touch he set up Barlow for a shot that was well saved by Smith.

But Daisy finally got the third goal their pressure deserved with six minutes remaining, and again Baldwin was the architect.

The big midfielder evaded a lunging challenge as he powered into the box, and rolled the ball to Talbot who made no mistake from close range to round off the victory.

Daisy are back in action in the North West Counties Football League First Division North tonight (Monday) when they host Steeton, kick off 7.45 pm.