A bumper double round-up this week, looking back over the matches played on March 12th and March 19th in more detail. Apologies for the delay; work commitments followed by a short break has impacted on my time.
We’ll start with March 12th which saw four matches played in three separate competitions.
In the Champions Cup, Lancaster traveled to Longton with the holders needing to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit. However, despite a promising start from the home side and a host of early chances, Lancaster held firm and put on the perfect counter-attacking display to kill the tie and deservedly reach the Champions Cup Final with a 4-1 win on the day and a 6-1 aggregate score.
In the other semi-final, Quernmore – leading 5-3 from the first leg – finished the job with a 2-1 home victory over Wray. Once again, Tom Kelsall was the match winner with a brace; adding to his first leg hat-trick to record five goals in the tie.
Congratulations to Lancaster and Quernmore who will meet in the Champions Cup Final in mid-April.
In the League Cup, the fixtures were a little convoluted due to congestion and finding the right weekend for our guests Accrington to play. On the 12th March, Loko hosted Great Ecc at the semi-final stage. It proved to be an epic encounter in which Loko raced into a 2-0 lead only to be pegged back to 2-2 late on. Neither side could force the winner in extra-time and it was Great Ecc who completed a great comeback victory with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out triumph – Simon Greenhalgh with the decisive spot-kick. It is unknown who Great Ecc will face in the League Cup Final; what we do know is that it will be between Garstang and Fleetwood who will face off in the other semi-final on April 2nd. This is after Garstang overcame St John’s Accrington 2-0 in their League Cup quarter-final played on March 19th.
Away from the romance of the cup, there were five league games played over the weekends of 12th-19th March. On the 12th, Fulwood made the short trip to Garstang a recorded an excellent away victory, winning 3-1.
On the 19th March, four league games took place with Longton bouncing back from their cup disappointment to record a 4-1 home win over Quernmore thanks to braces from Tom Cobham and Stephen Farrington. Lancaster continued their rich vein of form with a comprehensive 11-0 home win over Fulwood; Jonny Sudell on target four times and Michael White with a hat-trick. Incredibly, both Longton and Lancaster cannot be separated at the top of the table with the same points tally and identical goal difference.
Elsewhere, Great Ecc edged out Fleetwood in a tight encounter by a single goal to nil, and Loko recorded an excellent 4-1 home victory over Wray; longstanding midfielder Brad Rodwell scoring twice.
Results – March 12th
Quernmore 2-1 Wray (Champions Cup semi-final second leg)
Tom Kelsall 48, 58 // Steven Wright pen 30
Quernmore win 7-4 on aggregate
Longton 1-4 Lancaster (Champions Cup semi-final second leg)
Dave Sharp 62 // Richard Beavis 18, 75 Michael White 30, Jonny Sudell 44
Lancaster win 6-1 on aggregate
Loko 2-2 Great Ecc (League Cup semi-final)
AET – Great Ecc win 5-3 on penalties
Tom Atkinson 5, Simon Greenhalgh o.g. 32 // Liam Darbyshire 70, Dennis Pulford 89
Garstang 1-3 Fulwood (League)
Luke Carroll 63 // Mike Thornton o.g. 30, Jordan Cooper 57, Andy Heaton 60
Results – March 19th (League games unless stated)
Longton 4-1 Quernmore
Tom Cobham 28, 85 Stephen Farrington 65, 88 // Mick Lund 37
Lancaster 11-0 Fulwood
Jonny Sudell 7, 19, 52, 66 Michael White 17, 50, 63, own goal 22, Tom Luxton 35, Richard Beavis 70, Phil Connerton 85
Loko 4-1 Wray
Brad Rodwell 21, 25 Tom Atkinson 67, Graeme Beaumont 89 // Andrew Swinbank 83
Great Ecc 1-0 Fleetwood
Adam Moat 47
Garstang 2-0 St John’s Accrington (League Cup quarter-final)
Rory Mower 46, Levi Osborne 85
