10:30am Tuesday 2nd February 2010
ATHERTON Town are cursing the big freeze for knocking their mid-season revival off the rails.
Before the winter snap decimated the local football programme, the Howe Bridge-based club beat the top two in the Manchester League Premier Division, but have lost back-to-back games since returning to action. Now manager Shaun Lynch says a lot of hard work is necessary if they are to get back on track at Prestwich Heys on Saturday.
“We look a completely different team to the one that beat the league leaders and the second-placed team before the freeze,” he admitted after Town’s 5-2 defeat to mid-table Manchester Gregorians.
Although Town have rarely been at their best on all-weather surfaces, Lynch offered no excuses for the poor showing, acknowledging his side were architects of their own downfall — punished for defensive errors and missing scoring chances. He added: “Gregorians were the better side but all five of their goals were down to defensive mistakes. We didn’t defend well and that’s not like us.”
Town had their chances in the first half — Gary Shaw and Idder Sakhi spurning opportunities when they were clean through on the keeper — and paid dearly for a defensive lapse that gifted Gregorians a 1-0 half-time lead. Two more mistakes early in the second half saw the home side take a 3-0 lead before Town hit back with goals from Mark Parry and Ryan Heapy.
But, just when they looked to have taken the initiative, further defensive errors squandered any chance of rescuing a point.
In Division one, struggling Pennington went down 3-2 at second-placed Monton Amateurs.
Beechfield United won 2-1 at Maine Road Reserves to complete a 5-3 aggregate victory in the semi-final of the Manchester County Cup. In the final Beechfield will play Hollinwood, who beat East Manchester 5-2 on aggregate in the other semi-final.
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