A REAL tale of two halves took place at Breightmet, where Bolton County scored three goals in 20 second-half minutes to compound the hosts’ miserable run of form.

United manager Paul Roberts felt his side had been the better team in a goalless first half and should have been two or three goals up but were let down by wayward finishing.

And County capitalised with Liam Stewart, Kieran Hennessy and Tom Axon-Smith all netting by the midway point of the second period to maintain fourth-placed County’s push in Manchester League Division One with a 3-0 win, though County manager Mark Ormrod admitted: “The first half was pitiful from us.

“It was played at 100 miles-an- hour and no one produced any kind of quality, it was a typical spirited derby.

“Thankfully, in the second half we rectified it, changed a few things round and managed to put a few passes together.

“Two minutes after the restart a corner was swung into the near post because our six foot-plus lads went to the back post, and Liam sidefooted it in, a really cool finish. Ten minutes later, Kieran headed in a cross from Abdou Njie to make it 2-0.

“And when the third from Tom Axon-Smith went in soon after that you could see how deflated Breightmet were, their shoulders dropped and I don’t think we were in any trouble from that point.”

Njie had been one of the changes made at the break, and after stepping up from County’s reserves he was one of the more impressive players on show during an important win that puts them four points behind but with two games in hand on Atherton Town, who drew 0-0 at Pennington on Saturday.

Ormrod’s side face Pennington at Daisy Hill’s New Sirs ground for an Atherton Charity Cup semi-final tomorrow night – which kicks off at 7.30pm – and, with two league games against Atherton Town still to be fulfilled, they have designs on league success as well.

With a congested fixture list they were happy to welcome right-winger Joe Fielding back into the fold after an horrific injury sustained in a Charity Cup tie back in August.

“I know people can get giddy in the cup but I’ve told the 15 who are going to be involved, they are my team all the way from here,” added Ormrod. “We knew we were in the semis back in August when we beat Ashton Town.

“Joe’s knee collapsed in that game and he has had major reconstructive surgery so he has been out a long time. He is coming back now so we’re going well. If we can continue like this we’ll be in with a shot.”

While Bolton County aim high, Breightmet are having a miserable time, though Roberts insists better times are just around the corner.

His youthful side have failed to score in their last seven outings and are fourth-bottom in the Division One table. Roberts says they just need a touch of good fortune to get back to winning ways – and some more clinical finishing to put away the chances they are creating.

“We should have gone in two or three up at half time on Saturday,” he said. “Again we missed some really good chances – we had one open goal that went into the side netting and a couple of one-on-one chances.

“I’d say we had outplayed them and I told them at half time to keep doing what they were doing and it would come.

“Unfortunately, we lost our men at a corner and conceded the first goal. After that, because we’ve been on such a bad run, you could see the confidence drain out of them.

“They kept going and County sat back a bit once they’d got the second and third.

“Although we had worked really hard to get the game on the pitch was really boggy in places with divots and bobbles affecting everyone, especially during the second half.”

Breightmet have another derby on Thursday, a Hospital Cup tie at West Lancashire League side CMB.

But with one eye, if not both, on next season Roberts has it down as a ‘bonus game’, adding: “Hopefully our luck will turn, we just need to get that win to break this run and we’ll be okay.

“We had seven or eight lads under 23 in our team on Saturday so all our planning is going into next season because we need to give these young lads confidence. I’m trying to instil in them that they are talented players and we know we’ll do better next time around.

“Our captain, Karl Bancks, is definitely retiring at the end of this season, his brother Dean might do too, so we need some experienced players to come in but I’m hoping I can keep most of these lads with us and we can push on next year.”