EAGLEY maintained their unbeaten home record to reach the second round of the Lancashire FA Shield, coming from behind to beat Hawcoat Park 2-1.

Simon Whaley’s men, having won three out of three in the West Lancashire League Division One, have not lost a match in regulation time at Eagley Sports Complex this term. They did, however, exit the President’s Cup in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Wyre Villa last week.

Just as Saturday’s match at home to Hawcoat was heading for a second shoot-out in back-to-back games, Phil Eastwood came up with a crucial second goal late in the day to send Eagley through to the second round.

“It was good to get another win under our belt,” said player-manager Whaley, who had scored the team’s first goal to cancel out Hawcoat’s opener.

“We had a bit of a shaky start and we fell behind to a defensive error.

“It didn’t stop us creating chances though, we were all over them and by the time the half-time whistle went they had been hanging on for a while.

“We continued in the same vein in the second half, and by the time I scored our equaliser we should probably have had four or five goals.

“We felt it was only a matter of time before we got our second goal, it had been a constant onslaught so we felt it had to happen sooner or later.”

Eagley finally booked their deserved passage to the second round when Whaley set up Eastwood for a late winner, playing him in for a neat finish, slipped underneath the Park keeper.

And the boss is in no doubt they deserved their win, which was warmly welcomed after the disappointment of their cup exit seven days earlier.

“The lads are really starting to perform,” he said. “We’re going through a bit of a rebuild but Eagley is a good place to be at the moment, the players are a tight unit. We had more than 20 out together this weekend. After our relegation last season, the smiles are coming back to the club.”

In the West Lancashire League, Ladybridge opened up a four-point lead over Millom in Division Two, thanks to their nearest rivals playing a Shield fixture.

Dean Walmsley’s side made it eight wins from nine in the league, beating Walney Island 5-2 at Tempest Road.

Mark Truffas hit two for Ladybridge, with Darren Smethurst, Chris Donohue and Michael Rice also on target.