Burscough held in a dramatic encounter

Mar 24 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

BURSCOUGH looked almost down and out in this Blue Square North game at Victoria Park on Saturday, their hopes floored by two goals in four minutes by the visitors from Northumberland, when Brian Moogan produced a slick movement before thumping home an 82nd-minute equaliser that could prove to be a really valuable goal at the end of the season.

Blyth arrived in West Lancashire defending a run of five victories from seven visits, while Burscough have only lost twice since the turn of the year.

The Linnets star striker Ciaran Kilheeney hit the Blyth woodwork after just two minutes, then followed up with an eighth-minute opener. All seemed to suggest Burscough were on course for victory against opponents hovering just above the Blue Square North relegation zone.

Blyth pushed forward and but for a goal-line clearance by Adam Flynn and another by Matt McGinn, they may have been level at the interval.

Ten minutes after the restart the Spartans had completely turned the game on it’s head.

First in the 52nd minute, Martin Houlahan outfought Neil Fitzhenry as a long ball dropped into the Burscough half, then he left keeper Tony McMillan paralysed with a vicious dipping volley for the leveller.

When in the 56th minute, six-foot-plus striker Robert Dale stooped to head home at the far post off an Alex Gildea cross, Blyth looked winners all the way.

Burscough were struggling to make any inroads against an organised Blyth defence who looked odds on to hold on, when Brian Moogan gathered a poor clearance determinedly steered past a defender and slammed the ball home from 15 yards.

BURSCOUGH: McMillan, Moogan B, McGinn, Fitzhenry, Kilbane, Flynn, Price (Smart 45), Moogan A, Booth, Kilheeney, Noone (Tomlinson, 72). Subs: Clancy, Davis, McCulloch.

BLYTH SPARTANS: Bartlett, Christenson, Hedley, Leeson, Williams, Brown, Webster, McCabe (Snowden 81), Houlahan, Johnson (Dale 45), Gildea A (Boyle 74), Subs: Stephenson, Fenton

BURSCOUGH'S scheduled Blue Square North game against Leigh RMI at Hilton Park this afternoon has been postponed because of the condition of the pitch.

No date for the rescheduled game has been fixed yet.