This weekend saw another 3 games take place in the SportsReach Football league, with early league leaders Moorlands travelling to Quernmore, whilst winless Loko traveled to Great Ecc in the hope they could find a win, and Fulwood traveled to Wray in the hope of bouncing back from their defeat last week.

Great Ecc second half show shocks Loko

Great Ecc 9 – 1 Loko

Sharples 52, Ball 61, 67, 75, 80, 83, 90, Greenhalgh 85, Pulford 88 // Atkinson 38

Great Ecc played their first official league match at their new ground, and wanted a win to mark the occasion. They didn’t disappoint! Eccy started full of confidence and were soon creating chances, two of which fell to Sean McCabe, who couldn’t convert either opportunity. Despite the good start, Loko took the lead when Great Ecc centre back Dan Birkett switched off allowing a throw to go over his head, leaving the Tom Atkinson a free run through on goal to calmly slot the ball home 0-1.

At half time, Great Ecc made a tactical change and changed formation from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 and reaped the benefits of the changes and a quick one two between Jack Sharples and Dan Ball allowed Jack to head home from close range. 1-1. Dan Ball followed that up after Jack Sharples played him through to round the keeper and slot home. Great Ecc, on top now, didn’t take long to extend their lead. From a throw to Den Pulford the ball then fell to Tom Shields who slid the ball to Ball to tap into an empty net. The front 3 of Sharples, Pulford and Ball was causing Loko all sorts of problems. Ball was tripped in the box resulting in a penalty. Up he stepped to claim his hat-trick smashing the ball into the top left hand corner to make it 4-1. Great Ecc continued to press hard on Loko and the fifth came from some good build up play, with the ball fizzing into Den Pulford who layed the ball off 25yrds out to Bally who with one touch to control then rolled the ball into the bottom left corner past the keeper. Daniel Ball was on fire in the second half, and in the 83rd minute, Great Ecc were awarded a free kick, which was duly dispatched by Ball.

Brimming with confidence, Great Ecc continued to push. Centre back Simon Greenhalgh surged forward, carrying on his run, then pressuring a Loko defensive header that evaded the keeper and rolled towards the goal. Si charged after the ball, just about connecting to it to claim the goal. Loko, swamped by the Great Ecc pressure did try to find a way through, but struggled to do so, and instead, it was Great Ecc who added some more goals to their tally. The eigthth goal of the game went to Dennis Pulford, who capped a good performance cleverly turning his defender to fire past the keeper. The final goal of the game went to man of the match Daniel Ball, who finished off some great interplay as Simon Greenhalgh played the ball in to Ball who gave a one two with Dennis to slam the ball home into the top left corner. An impressive second half performance, who didn’t allow Loko to settle on their lead and managed to grab an impressive win in the process.

Lacklustre Quernmore beaten by strong Moorlands

Quernmore 0 – 3 Moorlands
// Dent 29, 48 Grundy 44

On Saturday, a winless Quernmore came up against a strong, in form Moorlands team. As Quernmore started with 10 men until Yates arrived, they found themselves under the cosh from the get go, Moorlands playing the ball about nicely, making Quernmore do all the work. It seemed it would only be a matter of time until Moorlands broke down the Quernmore resistance. However, for the time being, this was not to be the case. Yates arrived and slotted into centre midfield.

Moorlands were getting some joy from corners, swinging them in right on the keeper. Quernmore dealt with them well until one evaded keeper Thornton and fell to the feet of the prolific Dent, who needed no invitation to fire it home. 1-0 to Moorlands. Quernmore were very disappointed. The continued to work hard, trying to create an opportunity, with both Cook and Sutton firing wide. Moorlands joy, however, was going to grow as they found a second goal before half time. Dent got played through on the wing, chasing down the ball, Rosendale in pursuit, but he was able to evade the tackle and play a lovely ball in the box, for the free scoring Grundy to fire home. 2-0.

Into the second half and Quernmore made a bright start, wanting the ball more and playing it about nicely, nullifying Moorlands. The next goal in the game would be crucial, however Quernmore still struggled to create many clear cut chances, but continued to press in search of a goal. It was, however, Moorlands who found the next goal in the game. A quick counter attack sliced through Quernmore’s defence and a goal line scramble ensued, a last ditch tackle from Cook nearly stopped the goal, however, it wasn’t enough as Dent fired home for his second and Moorlands third of the game. Quernmore were mightily disappointed in conceded, but continued to work hard and looked to try and find a consolation goal – or at the very least, play for pride. It was a tough game, tackles flying in all over the pitch, making it a very competitive – but not dirty game. Moorlands were still dangerous on the counter attack, at one point the influential Orford broke through, but a well timed tackle from Rosendale made up for his earlier error. Quernmore played the ball about nicely and tried to find a way through and did put Moorlands under pressure, especially in the second half of the second half, however Moorlands were comfortable with their 3 goal cushion and saw out the result in the end.

Wray succumb to Fulwood defeat

Wray 3 – 5 Fulwood

Harrison 20, Whaley 58, McCabe 65 // Alexander 1, 79, 87, Catterson 6, 40

Wray fell to defeat in their second game of the season to an ever improving Fulwood side, who found themselves 1 up within 1 minute of the game, Alexander finishing for Fulwood. It was a dream start for Fulwood as they found themselves 2-0 up within 6 minutes, Catterson finishing for them. Wray fought back in the twentieth minute, Stepehn Harrison rounding off a good move by Wray. However, Fulwood compounded their superiority by netting again in the 40th minute, Catterson grabbing his second goal of the game.

Into the second half and Wray’s fightback begun through Whaley, netting in the 58th minute. Wray were showing some of the grit and determination that brought them the title last season. Wray drew level in the 65 minute, Nathan McCabe netting for Wray. It was a tough, back and forth game that could swing either way and it was unlikely that the goals were going to dry up with 20 minutes to go. With 10 minutes to go, Fulwood found what would be the decisive goal, Alexander grabbing his second goal of the game, and taking Fulwood 4-3 up. Finally, in the 87th minute, Alexander completed his hattrick and netted Fulwood’s fifth goal of the game. This was Wray’s first league defeat in over a year and they will hope to bounce back to winning ways next week, whilst Fulwood will look to follow on from this victory next weekend as well.