1 week Ago
Champions Atherton LR end their regular NWCFL First Division North season in defeat on the coast as they fell short to AFC Blackpool in a 2-1 defeat. Having already secured the title the previous week with a 6-0 win against Bacup Borough, LR headed for Blackpool in party mood. However, assistant manager Gareth Flitcroft highlighted the importance of the fixture to end the season on a high.
Visitors LR were on the back foot early on against a very attacking AFC side, with Luke Hepple and Corey Cook working well inside the box to try and find a way past Joe Bickerstaffe, but the Yellows keeper kept his composure and denied all chances. LR had some openings of their own with Tom Romano pressing high and forcing mistakes by the Blackpool defence, however the final product just was not happening. It was Blackpool who would eventually find the opener after 64 minutes.
Starting in the AFC box, a clearance by Anthony Pearson found Hepple who lifted it to John-Jo Morris on the right. With space, he sent a through-ball back to Hepple who circled the ball past Bickerstaffe to send the hosts into a deserved lead. LR reacted to the setback as a quick counter-attack saw them in a dangerous position with captain Lewis Adams leading the charge.
A throw-in by the skipper found Harvey Sample, who returned the ball before Adams sent a cross to Cal Hunter and he backheeled the ball past James Whittingham to level the scores just three minutes later. AFC were straight back on the attack, though, and after only a minute, were back ahead with another quick counter-attack that found Hepple in the middle and he smashed the ball into the net to send the Mechanics ahead. AFC saw the game out as deserved winners and LR were clapped off by the large away crowd despite the defeat after their achievement in winning the title and promotion.
Manager Dave Jones admitted his disappointment in his side on the day, however. He said: “It was a very poor performance, it wasn’t the LR side that I saw last week against Bacup. “But I said to the lads in the changing rooms, we didn’t win the league with one game, we won it over 34 games and in those 34 games we had the best form and were the best in the division.
” LR finish their season with a weekend of cup finals, the first being the Champions Cup final at Winsford on Saturday (3pm)..
