IT seems there is rarely a dull moment in Tempest United’s games at present.

A miserable afternoon for the Greens saw them trailing 3-0 at Southport Hesketh with 10 minutes of the second half gone.

But a remarkable turnaround in the latter stages – aided by a red card for a Hesketh defender – saw them hammer in three goals to claim a point that took them into third place in the Premier Division table.

“We were dreadful, really bad,” said assistant manager Gary Westhead.

“We were outplayed and outmuscled, we weren’t good enough in any department.

“We kicked off the game and went behind after about 25 seconds, that’s how bad we were. It was like we’d just pulled 11 lads out of the pub.

“Then at three down after a foul we played on and scored but the ref disallowed it and pulled play back, sending their centre-half off. It clicked into gear for us then.

“Fortunately for us we scored from the resulting free kick, Elliot Hailwood put in the rebound after Sam Parkinson had had a go. And from there we were in control, Nathan Monson scored a penalty to make it 3-2 and they were hanging on. Nathan got his second on 86 minutes, and another five or 10 minutes and we’d have won it.

“The red card turned the game, definitely. We were not at the races but we got a bit of luck, which you do need sometimes. We’ve been on the other side of it so it’s swings and roundabouts.

“It did feel like three points instead of one when we came off but we feel it was also a good point, especially from that position.”

Tempest moved up to third in the table and this weekend host the Premier Division leaders Blackpool Wren Rovers.

And Westhead says, even though they are conceding goals as freely as they are scoring, they will go into the match buoyed by a 2-0 victory at Blackpool earlier this month.

“We’ve got three or four hard games to come,” he added. “After Blackpool we’ve got Slyne and Longridge to come, we play Turton on December 23 and again in the League Cup quarter-finals sometime in the New Year. They’re hard games but we’re on a roll, we’ve got some momentum and we want to keep playing.

“Blackpool will be wary of us, hopefully we can get at them again.

“We feel we can get goals, Nathan is the joint top-scorer in the league and scoring isn’t a problem for us, we’re just conceding too many.

“Our defending hasn’t been up to our usual standard, that’s something we need to address if we want to be competing at the very top.

“It’s brilliant for the neutral to watch but on the sideline me and Ross [McNair, Tempest manager] are pulling our hair out sometimes.”

Meanwhile, it was a bad day for Turton as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at home to Fulwood Amateurs, a result that puts them in eighth.

In Division One, Eagley were pegged back by visitors Hawcoat Park, who cancelled out a goal from player-manager Simon Whaley in their 1-1 draw.

Joe McCann and Steve Harrison netted in Stoneclough’s 2-1 win at GSK Ulverston Rangers but CMB were defeated 3-0 at home to title contenders Hurst Green.

Ladybridge were the day’s big winners, hitting nine goals in their Division Two match at Thornton Cleveleys Reserves.

After Michael Rice had scored their first there were hat-tricks for Adam Bullock and Chris Donohue, with Gaz Ashton and Mark Truffas also on the score sheet.

And with his side five points clear of Leyland United,manager Dean Walmsley is keen to keep piling the pressure on the chasing pack.

“We’ve got Leyland to play on December 9,” said the manager. “It’s one we’re looking forward to because we need to get our revenge for a 5-3 defeat to them earlier in the season.

“But we have Kendal this week, who are fourth. We’ve played them already and feel we can beat them.

“It’s getting interesting up at the top, a few teams have got games in hand but I’d rather have the points on the board than the games in hand.

“It is still in our hands so we’ll keep doing what we are doing and keep trying to pick up the results.”