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Match Reports Rammy United 3 Atherton LR 2 - report
Match Reports Rammy United 3 Atherton LR 2 - report
| Rammy United 3 Atherton LR 2 - report |
| Written by Richard Isaacs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, 30 January 2010 18:24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ramsbottom United turned in a rusty, unconvincing performance in front of a three-year best attendance at The Riverside as they beat a tenacious Atherton LR 3-2 on a blisteringly cold afternoon - but the result took them back to second. It was far from a perfect showing on a solid surface that was given the go-ahead by the Widnes-based referee just 90 minutes prior to kick-off but, with a number of other local games postponed, the attendance swelled to 249 - the largest since Easter Saturday 2007 when over 1,000 FC United supporters came to town on the "Rammy Rattler" !!! Rammy made a couple of surprising changes to their side that were defeated by Newcastle Town in the League Cup last week. Tommy Allen was given his debut in goal, displacing the rested Damien Rooney while Barry Massey partnered Carl Lomax in attack with Kieron Fletcher making way. Accrington Stanley academy youngster Scott Scraggs took a seat on the bench for the Rams. The home side had the better of the early stages and came close to scoring when co-manager Bernard Morley failed to connect to a fine cross from the right from Lee Connell when the Rams had claimed the first corner of the game. Much against the early run of play, Atherton responded through Dominic Smalley but his effort was wide of the mark and then had a second bite of the cherry when he was left in plenty of space but his chance was cleared. The deadlock was broken on 19 minutes when Barry Massey converted the third of three Rammy opportunities in the space of two minutes. Initially, Massey had a shot saved and Eddie O'Neill's long-range effort climbed over the bar. But, from a free-kick from the left-hand side, the veteran striker buried the chance for a deserved lead. The visitors were relying on some long-range shots which were hardly testing Allen in the Rammy goal but, on the half-hour, the scores were surprisingly level. With Rammy bearing down on the Atherton goal, the ball was speculatively cleared and the pacy Ashford Blake outpaced the home defensive line and placed the ball beyond Allen for the equaliser. That early zip that Rammy had seemed to desert them after the shock of conceding and it was LR who closed the half the stronger. Whatever advantage was carried into break was quickly dispursed two minutes into the second half when Eddie O'Neill was on the end of a good move up field to crash home his fifth goal of the season to edge Rammy back into the lead. And that galvanised the hosts. Carl Lomax could have done better with a chance from five yards out and he had another go but shot over the bar from close range. Opportunities came and went for the home side while LR were left with just speculative efforts. But, once again, some disappointing defending allowed Atherton to level the tally on 67 minutes. Bradley Cooke broke and as the Rammy line called for offside, it was all in vain as the midfielder tucked the ball away for 2-2. In all honesty, Atherton had had two clear chances through the game and scored from both while Ramsbottom were peppering their goal - but the scoreline doesn't lie and level it was. It set up an nerve-jangling ending but it was Lomax who steadied the ship. After Lee Connell crashed the ball into the post from five yards out, Lomax clipped the crossbar with a flighted effort and was also denied by Martin Pearson just keeping the ball out, he made sure the ball crossed the line on 79 minutes, lifting the ball cleverly into the net. The entertainment didn't finish there though. Atherton almost levelled for a third time but hit just over on a couple of occasions and they even had goalkeeper Pearson pushing forward for an equaliser in the dying minutes but the home side held on and it was a relieved co-manager Bernard Morley at the end. "We will take a win in those conditions", he said, feeling that, in hindsight, the pitch wasn't perfect. "All I asked the lads to do was go out there and win the game and they did. "Granted, Atherton had a good go at us and they are a completely different side from the team we beat 4-0 in October but we played some good stuff and it's three points in the bag and we are back to second." But he did concede that there were continued concerns over the defence. "I am not going to point the finger at anyone as I felt that, as a team defensively, we have a lot to learn. This is something that we will have to address in training before we play Abbey Hey next week." OTHER PREMIER DIVISION RESULTS TODAY Bootle P-P Alsager Town Colne P-P New Mills Congleton Town P-P Flixton Glossop NE P-P Bacup Borough Nelson P-P Ashton Athletic Newcastle Town 2-0 Padiham Ramsbottom United 3-2 Atherton LR Runcorn Linnets P-P Abbey Hey Silsden 2-0 Formby Squires Gate 1-2 St Helens Town Winsford United 1-2 Maine Road
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 23:03 |
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RAMMY UNITED v Skelmersdale United Saturday 11th September 2010 FA CUP At The Riverside, KO 15:00 Head-to-head | More Fixtures |
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RAMMY UNITED 5 - 0 Runcorn Linnets Tuesday 7th September 2010 NWCFL PREM | Match Stats |
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2010-2011 Season
| Jon Robinson | 7 | |
| Joel Pilkington | 3 | |
| Michael Saunders | 3 | |
| Bernard Morley | 2 | |
| Lee Gaskell | 2 | |
| Andy Dawson | 1 | |
| Dominic Smalley | 1 |
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