Daisy Hill bounced back to winning ways in the North West Counties League First Division North with a fine 4-2 win at Colne on Saturday.
A first-half volley from Harry Forshaw gave Daisy the lead at the break, and a second half double from Max Bardsley-Rowe and a late strike from leading scorer Liam Sheppard rounded off a good win for Daisy that delighted manager Nicky Hunt.
“It was a very pleasing performance, and I thought we dominated from start to finish,” said Hunt.
“In the first half especially, playing uphill is always a test here, but we were defending really resolutely, and I thought we dealt with what threat they had.
“We had to work for all our goals, and we had four really well-worked goals today.
“I’m glad Harry Forshaw got another goal. He’s been working really, really tirelessly in recent weeks, and not got any reward goals-wise, but he’s an incredible player at this level.
“Obviously, you’ve got Shep (Liam Sheppard) still chipping away after the top goalscorer award, and Max Bardsley-Rowe coming back in, who scored a worldie first strike, and then a tap in for his second.
“It’s good to get goals from front areas, so we just need to keep that up.
“We’ve got four games to go now, three at home, and we need to build on this performance today and bring that back home where we have been really good the whole season.”
Daisy began the game and almost took the lead in the 11th minute when Fionn Murphy’s cross was almost turned into his own net by Colne defender Mohammed Butt.
Colne rarely threatened in the opening stages, with a Miles Storey header that was safely gathered by Daisy keeper Jude Smith the only moment of concern before they took the lead on 35 minutes.
A good move down the right led to Dec Baldwin crossing at waist height into the box where Forshaw met the ball on the volley to give Turner in the Colne goal no chance.
Turner’s complaints to the referee about the legitimacy of the goal in the immediate aftermath led him being sin-binned for his comments, and Colne striker Barney Wiggin had to don the gloves for the remainder of the first half.
Turner was back in place for the start of the second half, but within two minutes he was beaten again, this time from a cracking 25-yard strike from Bardsley-Rowe that flew into the top corner, giving the keeper no chance.
Colne’s hopes were revived at the midway point of the half when a through ball through from Alex-Ray Harvey played Ben Horne in on goal, and he slotted past Smith into the bottom corner.
But straight from the kick off Daisy restored their two-goal advantage when a move down the right involving Jacob Ridings and Forshaw set up a chance for Bardsley-Rowe to bag his second of the afternoon with a side-footer that crept just inside the far post
With 13 minutes remaining, Bardsley-Rowe came desperately close to claiming his hat-trick when a slip at the back allowed him a clear run in on goal, but Colne keeper Turner did well to block his shot at point-blank range.
In the final minute, Colne earned a glimmer of hope with a second goal, when Dan Cunningham powered a header past Smith.
But deep into stoppage time, Daisy’s leading scorer Sheppard took his tally to 28 for the season when he won a chase for a long ball forward to nip in front of the covering defender and get in a shot that ended up in the back of the net off the inside of the near post.
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