December 1994

A good result for Atherton, especially as the home side were bursting with confidence having recently beaten league leaders Bamber Bridge and Premier Division leaders Marine. LR started strongly, pushing forwards and were rewarded after just three minutes when Jeremy Lord dribbled into the area, found Dave Liptrott whose cross was headed in by Paul Moss. In the 30th minute Atherton scored the goal of the match. Stuart Humphreys made a superb 30 yard pass to Mark Stewart who put Kenny Quigg through. He rounded the keeper and scored. Two poor decisions by the referee could have cost Atherton the match. Paul Moss was through with only the keeper to beat and was flattened by the keeper, bhe referee waved play on. On 36 minutes Great Harwood were awarded a corner and Atherton's keeper, Andy Hills, caught the ball. However, it was knocked out of his hands by Stuart Farnell and turned in. Despite the protests from Atherton, the referee allowed the goal.
In the second half the home side pressured LR's goal for much of the time and looked dangerous. Laburnums were restricted to a few break away attacks, but Stuart Humphreys and Paul Burrows caused problems for the home defence when they got the chance. There was a scare for Atherton with ten minutes remaining when Great Harwood's Peter Smith went over in the area and the referee waved play on. Possibly unfair, but it made up for the first half decision. The game caused more headaches for manager Dave Morris with Jimmy Evans suffering a recurrence of his thigh strain and Paul Moss suffering a dead leg.

LR - Andy Hills, Paul Kirwen, Jimmy Evans, Ken Quigg, Andy Feeley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Jeremy Lord, Dave Liptrott, Paul Moss, Stuart Humphreys Subs Chris Ree, Phil Donlan
 

With four first team regulars out injured and another three suspended, Atherton fielded a weaker team in this game. However, they started well and Dave Liptrott was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when he was brought down in Eastwood's area. In the 20th minute the entire Laburnums defence stopped and appealed for offside. While they stood around, Eastwood's Mark Richardson ran on with the ball and scored. Atherton kept pushing forwards, but at half time they were still 1-0 down.
The second half started badly. Stuart Humphreys received a second yellow card for a poorly timed challenge and was sent off. Eastwood’s Neil Illman scored directly from the resulting free kick. Everton Marsh and Mark Richardson made it 4-0 for Eastwood, then there more problems for Atherton. Andy Feeley made a great tackle to stop Richardson making it five, but the referee saw things differently and gave a penalty. The Laburnum players were furious and Ian Lloyd was sent off for complaining too much. Fortunately justice was done when Gray made a superb save from the penalty. The nine remaining Laburnum players worked hard and in the last minute scored a consolation goal through Dave Liptrott. Eight bookings and two sending offs in a match that was never dirty tells the story.

LR - Andy Gray, Mick Southern, Phil Donlan, Ken Quigg, Andy Feeley, Ian Lloyd, Paul Burrows, Jeremy Lord, Dave Liptrott, Paul Moss, Stuart Humphreys Subs Andy Noone, Steve Taylor

Eastwood - Richard Wilson, Les McJannett, Martin Connelly, David Clarke, Carl Flint, (Craig Bennett - see below), Richard Mellon, Everton Marsh, Neil Illman, Mark Richardson, Dave  Brocklehurst Subs Richard Parkin, Shaune Browne, Mark Place

Note that in Eastwood's programme in January, they only list 10 players in their starting line up for this game. From reading round it would seem that Craig Bennett was the likely missing player, but I have no hard proof of that.

Injuries and suspensions had reached such a proportion by the time LR went to Workington that manager Dave Morris was forced to put his name down as a substitute. In a howling gale and pouring rain LR played well enough, but their short passes weren't proving much of a problem for the home defence in the poor conditions. In the 20th minute Workington scored what was to be the winning goal when a long ball caught the Laburnums defence out and Martin Henderson ran on to score. Ken Quigg had a good shot saved and when a Workington defender quite plainly used his hand in the area, Atherton thought they had a penalty, but the referee missed the offence and nothing was given.
In the second half Stuart Humphreys headed just over and Dave Liptrott had a shot well saved. However, although Atherton had a lot of possession, they lacked pace and didn't move forwards quickly enough, allowing the home side to defend in numbers. For Workington, Houghton had two opportunities to increase their lead, but missed them both. Although Atherton had a lot of possession they took ten passes to reach the half way line, so never progressed

LR - Andy Hills, Mick Southern, Phil Donlan, Rob Holgate, Andy Feeley, Jeremy Lord, Paul Burrows, Ken Quigg, Dave Liptrott, Paul Moss, Stuart Humphreys Subs Chris Ree, Dave Morris
 

In very poor conditions both teams came storming out looking to take an early advantage. However it was Atherton who scored first in the 6th minute. Ken Quigg made a great run into the area and his shot hit the post and came out for Dave Liptrott to score the opener. Liptrott and Pemberton came close to adding a second before a mass brawl broke out on the pitch. Radcliffe's forward, Frankie Bunn, elbowed Mick Southern and the fists went flying. When the referee had finally got it sorted out, Bunn and Graham Haddon from Radcliffe and LR's Ken Quigg were all sent off. Before the half was over Tony Pemberton again forced a good save from the visiting keeper and Radcliffe's Ian Lunt was unlucky when his shot came off the post, hit the other post and was then collected by Andy Hills.
In the second half it took Radcliffe 15 minutes to equalise. A good move starting at the back ended with Andy Brown scoring the equaliser. Atherton regained their lead almost immediately as Dave Liptrott went past two defenders and passed the ball to Paul Moss who slid the ball over the line. Liptrott and Jeremy Lord both went close for Atherton and Kilner and Lunt for Radcliffe. However, in the 80th minute LR made the game safe when Taylor made a good run, crossed in for Liptrott who in turn found Lord who scored.

LR - Andy Hills, Mick Southern, Chris Ree, Rob Holgate, Andy Feeley, Paul Moss, Paul Burrows, Tony Pemberton, Dave Liptrott, Andy Noone, Ken Quigg Subs Jeremy Lord, Steve Taylor
 

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