LITTLE Lever came out far happier with a point than local rivals Old Boltonians after a scintillating derby at Little Lever School’s all-weather pitch.

Old Bolts rescued a draw late in the day after going down to 10 men – and though you would be forgiven for thinking that would be a good result in the circumstances, they are likely to be without leading scorer Darren Dalton in their forthcoming Lancashire FA Amateur Cup final. The striker was dismissed when his side had been ahead, prompting a full-on fracas.

“Draws are no good to us at this stage,” said Eccleshare as he reflected on the cost of Dalton’s perceived stamp on an opponent.

“Their lad had hold of his leg as he was running down the wing and Darren tried shaking him off.

“It did look like a stamp, but he was just trying to get his leg free. Their player reacted when he got up and it just went bonkers after that, it all kicked off and players were flying in from both sides.

“We are going to represent the LAL in the cup final next month and if Darren gets a three-game ban, as we expect, we have had a look at the timing and we think he’ll be missing for the final.

“If he had done wrong and deserved it I’d take it on the chin.”

Eccleshare’s opposite number, Matt Barnes, also saw the red-card incident though the Little Lever boss was in no doubt Dalton’s

dismissal was deserved.

“It looked like a stamp, that’s how I saw it so he had to go,” he said. “It was a hard-fought game between two local rivals and emotions ran high – there was a bit of a dust-up but at the end it was handshakes all around.

“It was a brilliant game, very competitive as you’d expect, and we felt unlucky not to have won it 3-2 but we let a goal in with four minutes to go.

“We should have done better defensively, we know that, but against Old Bolts we would have taken a point before the game. They’ve been unbeaten for a long time, and they have beaten some very good sides, so I’m pleased with how we played and I’m pleased that we’re disappointed not to have won it in the end. It was a fair result, even though I thought we were the better side on balance. Steve may disagree as they were well on top early on and we couldn’t cope initially.

“We changed things around and really came into the game, we probably had 70 per cent of the play from there.

“It was a real local derby, a great game for the neutral – it had everything, some great goals, rivals going at each other, a red card and a late twist with their equaliser.”

There was no shortage of impressive goals from the two sides, from Craig Bingham’s brace and Jack Coop’s wonder volley from the corner of the 18-yard box for Lever to Jamie Darby’s opener to Matt McLellan’s smart finish via Leon Farrimond’s chipped finish after his solo run at the defence for Old Bolts.

That was of little consolation for Eccleshare though, as his team had been ahead when that flashpoint changed the whole complexion of the game.

“From being ahead when that happened we had to fight back to get a draw from it,” he said. “I suppose it is a fair result as we finished the game with 10 men, they showed an unbelievable attitude. We felt their player should have been sent off for his reaction too, but it is still a massive point for us. Coming away from that game with a draw is not too bad.”

As for the sides’ prospects for the rest of the campaign, while Old Bolts extended their unbeaten run to 13 games in all competitions Little Lever have designs on going on a run of their own.

“The referee said to us after the game if we play like that next year we’ll be right up there and we are looking towards next season but we’re aiming to go the rest of this season unbeaten,” said Barnes. “We’ve got some tough games to come but we feel it’s achievable and if we can do that it sets us up nicely for next year.”

Elsewhere, Horwich St Mary’s Victoria suffered a first defeat in four, as they were beaten 3-1 at home to Rochdale St Clement’s.

Second-placed Horwich fell behind when a long punt was misjudged, allowing the visitors’ striker to run on and slot into an empty net.

Johnny Shacklady equalised on the half-hour mark to ensure the teams turned around level pegging but another error by Horwich gifted their opponents a second goal shortly after the restart.

And, as Horwich swarmed forward in search of a second equaliser, the Rochdale side sealed victory with a third goal as time was running out.

There was also a win for third-placed Blackrod Town, 3-2 at home to Bury GSOB, and in Division One Bolton Wyresdale beat Rossendale, with Ewan McCulloch hitting the only goal.