Iley’s praise after Daisy get back to winning ways

First-half goals from Jacob Ridings and Sam Twist set Daisy on the road to victory, and assistant manager, Jack Iley, was full of praise for the squad afterwards.

“Pretty much everything went right today, and it was a really pleasing performance,” said Iley.

“The pitch wasn’t fantastic, we knew that before the game, and we felt that the game would be won by the team that made the fewest mistakes, and that was us today.

“We had a sticky first five or 10 minutes, but then we settled into the game really well.

“I thought we were in control of the game more than any time we have been in any game this season. It was a really professional 90 minutes from us.

“Bacup have picked their form recently and have been a free-scoring team, so to keep a clean sheet against them was really pleasing.

“At half time, being 2-0 up, the message to the players was more of the same. We knew we’d thrown winning positions away more than once this season and been guilty of being a team that plays for only one of two halves.

“We were keen to make sure that didn’t happen again, so we told the lads to keep the workrate up, as we knew Bacup would come out looking to fight back.

“In the first 10 or 15 minutes in the second half they piled on the pressure but we dealt with it. It was a bit of a feisty game at times, but we kept our composure well.

“We’ve been leaking goals in the last four or five games, and to keep a clean sheet was good, and not really conceding very many clear-cut chances was even better.

“We weren’t really reliant on them not taking chances, as we didn’t give them many chances in the first place.”

It was a game Daisy dominated for long spells, and the first-half performance in particular was one of the most convincing 45 minutes of the season.

Striker Luke Nicholls made his first start since joining the club from Atherton LR, and he created the first chance of the game in the fifth minute, when his strong run and cross into the box was well cut out by Bacup keeper William Blake.

Daisy continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession, and finally broke the deadlock on the half hour.

Strong running from Twist down the right flank took him past two challenges, before squaring the ball into the path of Ridings, who drove a low shot just inside the near post to open the scoring with his first goal of the season.

Three minutes later, Nicholls came close to adding a second when he fired a volley just over from the edge of the box, but Daisy eventually doubled their advantage in first half stoppage time.

Clever decoy runs from Dodd and Nicholls distracted the Bacup back line, leaving space for Twist to race through a gap in the defence before coolly slotting the ball past Blake.

Bacup had come into the game having scored 15 goals in their previous five games, but there had been little evidence of any goalscoring threat in the first half, and it took until the 57th minute before they registered a shot at goal.

A through ball split the Daisy defence to send leading scorer Toby Wright through on goal, but he blasted a shot over the bar from a good position inside the box.

At the other end, Bacup were extremely fortunate not to concede a third goal at the midway point of the second half.

A neat through ball from Twist played substitute Finlay Stafford through and his shot was beaten out by keeper Blake, rebounded off the shin of his centre half Joe Fallon and crashed against the bar before the ball was cleared.

Blake was in action again late in the game, when he first of all had to react quickly to tip over an inswinging corner from Daisy skipper Jake O’Brien, and then three minutes from time, he made a good blocking save from Stafford after the striker’s first effort had been blocked by a Bacup defender.

Daisy are at home again this coming Saturday in the North West Counties League First Division North when they host AFC Blackpool at the Plumb Factory Stadium (3pm).