Rooney grateful to secure Laird’s win

Dec 31 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

IT was certainly no day for the faint hearted at Kirklands with freezing rain blowing in horizontally from the River Mersey.

The Dabbers rewarded their hardy bunch of travelling fans by taking the lead in this UniBond League First Division South after eight minutes, skipper Andy Kinsey firing the ball through a crowd of legs to give them the advantage. A couple of minutes later Laird’s won a penalty when Ashley Carter was adjudged to have handled the ball on the line, however Thomas Rooney put the ball wide from the spot.

Things went from bad to worse for Lairds a couple of minutes later when John Moore was given a straight red for retaliation.

The second half saw an invigorated Laird’s playing with the wind, just after the hour home hearts were lifted when Eddie Jebb dribbled past five Nantwich defenders to fire home a well-deserved equaliser.

The Birkenhead men’s winner came after a 40-yard shot from Jebb was well saved by Jones only to ricochet off the post to Rooney, who was only too glad to fire home.