Walsh seals rare spot of joy for Hill to stun Vics
11:17am Tuesday 19th February 2013 in Other Football
THERE was a huge shock in the Premier Division when leaders Horwich Victoria lost 1-0 at lowly Castle Hill in a crunch derby clash.
A Rob Walsh penalty after 55 minutes was enough for Castle Hill to record only their third win of the campaign, and inflict a fifth defeat on Vics.
Triumphant manager Rob Rostron said the surprise victory made for his best weekend in a long time, particularly with the win coming against one of their big local rivals.
Rostron said: “We worked so hard and got our rewards for once, and I am chuffed to bits.
“We have shown signs of improvement in the last few weeks, but we’ve not had that bit of luck.
“It was a hard-fought, end-to-end game, but as it wore on we were the stronger side and had more chances.
“I think our lads wanted it more on the day.”
The rare slip for the leaders gave the chasing pack the opportunity to close the gap on them, and second-placed Old Boltonians did not pass up that chance.
They came from behind to win 2-1 at Hindley Juniors and narrow the difference to just one point – and Julian Stevens’ impressive side still have three games in hand on Victoria.
Old Bolts came flying out of the blocks, but, on a heavy pitch, they failed to race into the lead when they passed up numerous opportunities to score in the opening 15 minutes.
Sean Rushton came closest when he hit the bar with a header before Hindley took the lead against the run of play.
Old Boltonians had been so much on top in the opening 45 minutes they must not have known how they had gone into half time a goal behind.
But they came out strongly for the second period and soon had the home side on the back foot.
The Bolton men had the chance to get back into the match with a penalty, only for Josh Melling to see his effort saved.
On the hour mark, Rushton did level it up, and then 15 minutes later Tom Whittaker latched on to a David Owen pass to seal a 2-1 victory.
Elsewhere, Howe Bridge Mills beat bottom club Chaddertonians 2-1 at home.
The hosts went behind on 25 minutes and went into half time 1-0 down.
But David Hogan levelled it up on the hour before Chris Anderton netted a last-minute winner.
Little Lever’s home clash against Failsworth Dynamoes was postponed.
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