IT was a bad day at the office for promotion contenders Turton as they went down 3-1 to Burscough Richmond in Division One.

The first half was a very scrappy affair with no real flow to the game.

Burscough had a 1-0 advantage at the break after some poor defending by the visitors.

But the game hinged on one key moment as manager Neil Johnson explained.

"We hit the post when one-on-one with the keeper and should have scored but they went straight down the other end and their centre-forward was brought down by a defender and they scored from a penalty," he said.

"We didn't show enough character and conceded a poor third goal.

"At 3-0 down we eventually started to have a go.

"Dylan Winstanley was fouled in the box and Kieran Sisson scored the penalty.

"Their keeper made one great save and we should have had another penalty for a blatant handball.

"It was a disappointing team performance with too many players having an off day."

The result saw the Thomasson Fold side slip down to fourth in the table, but if they win all their remaining matches only Burscough Richmond could pip them to the final promotion place.

The club are looking forward to a break from pushing for promotion with the re-arranged President's Cup tie against Tempest United on Saturday.

"Overall the performance was below the standard the lads are capable of and what we expect," added Johnson. "It now means promotion is out of our hands.

"Burscough have to play Hurst Green twice and we have to face Poulton (third-placed) so it is going to be tight.

"In essence we have six cup finals to go and need to win most if not all of them to go up.

"We also have a very difficult cup game against Tempest this weekend. A few of the lads know each other, which always spices things up a bit and both sets of players will be keen to own the bragging rights come Saturday evening."

Elsewhere, the weather affected the fixtures calendar as the mouth-watering clash between CMB and Ladybridge was in Division Two postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Rivals Stoneclough could have done either of the two promotion challengers a favour with a result against another one of the contenders, Leyland United, but they went down 2-1.

After starting brightly they were hit with two quick-fire goals in 10 minutes in the first half.

Stoneclough came out and Joe McCann and Wes Tatlock had chances thwarted by the Leyland keeper.

McCann did get on the scoresheet with minutes left from a 30-yard free-kick, but it was too little, too late for the Kearsley side.