November 1996

In a strong wind Atherton had to defend well in the early stages of the game. They took the lead in the 69th minute through Lee Cryer and in the last minute of the game, substitute Dominic Hoyle scored the second in his debut.

Team - Andy Hills, Damien Kelly, Simon O’Brien, Ken Quigg, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Steve Gavin, Lee Cryer, Gavin MacDonald, Paul Griffin Subs Neil Wright, Gary Cowburn, Dominic Hoyle
 

Atrocious playing conditions and the distraction of fireworks going off all around the ground didn’t stop the two teams putting on an excellent display of football. Matty Brooks returned to the Atherton side after serving his ban for the sending off against Bamber Bridge in the FA Cup. The only goal came after 17 minutes when a right sided corner was missed by Andy Hills and Peter McRae headed home. There were plenty of good moves, but solid defending, superb keeping and the woodwork meant there were no more goals. Both Lee Cryer and Mark Stewart hit the post for LR and visiting keeper Anthony Johnson pulled off an outstanding save to tip a powerful Paul Griffin strike onto the post. At the other end Ian Lunt almost grabbed a second for Radcliffe.

Team - Andy Hills, Damien Kelly, Simon O’Brien, Neil Wright, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Steve Gavin, Lee Cryer, Dominic Hoyle, Paul Griffin Subs Gary Cowburn, Dave Channon, Matty Brooks
 

Warrington's management at this time would make familiar reading to Atherton supporters now. Alan Lord and Dave Entwistle were in charge. Laburnums had the better of the first half, but missed a number of chances. They opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Mark Stewart's cross found Lee Cryer on the edge of the area and he belted the ball into the net. In the 30th minute Paul Griffin was brought down in the area and Mark Stewart scored from the spot. Ten minutes later Stewart himself was brought down in the area, but the referee refused Laburnums pleas for a second penalty. Even more amazingly, a few minutes later Gavin McDonald was through with only the keeper to beat. The keeper came out quite obviously with no intention of going for the ball and flattened the Laburnums man. After lengthy treatment on the pitch McDonald had to be taken off and played no further part. The referees incredible decision was that a yellow card was sufficient.
Seven minutes into the second half Warrington scored. A corner wasn't cleared properly and Russell Sang scrambled the ball home from close range. In the 75th minute Laburnums scored their final goal of the day when Mark Stewart's cross was headed goalwards by Lee Cryer before being brilliantly pushed onto the bar by the keeper. However, Cryer volleyed in the rebound.

LR - Andy Hills, Damien Kelly, Simon O’Brien, Ken Quigg, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Matty Brooks, Lee Cryer, Gavin McDonald, Paul Griffin Subs Dominic Hoyle, Neil Wright, Gary Cowburn

Warrington - Kevin Gray, Liam Boden, McCombe, Russell Sang, Steve Davies, K Sutcliffe, Tony Timmons, Loughlin, Paul Hession, Peter Oldbury, Chris Gardner Subs Paul Kirkham, Craig Fleury, Steve Mallinson

This was Atherton’s first match after Chairman Derek Halliwell’s announcement that players allowances and expenses were to be cut by 50%. However, all the players rallied round and stuck with the club. Droylsden’s new manager Dalton Steele gave debuts to five of the players he’d brought with him from Flixton. LR started slowly and conceded an 18th minute  goal with a shot by Steve Shaughnessey from the edge of the area which picked up a slight deflection. In the second half Droylsden went 3-0 up through a 60th minute Mike Beirne strike and a second for Shaughnessey on 64 minutes. Lee Cryer pulled a late goal back for LR. Atherton had asked about the match being abandoned at half time because in poor conditions the floodlights were switched on, but two didn’t come on, leaving a quarter of the pitch in the dark - the end LR were attacking in the second half, but the referee felt the game could continue.

Team - Andy Hills, Damien Kelly, Simon O’Brien, Neil Wright, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Matty Brooks, Lee Cryer, Steve Gavin, Paul Griffin Subs Gary Cowburn, Andy Noone
 

Atherton LR took on near neighbours Daisy Hill in the first round of the Lancashire Challenge Trophy. LR had the better of the game but met a determined, battling defence. It was a bit of a scrappy game and the attendance of just 30 was disappointing. Daisy Hill started the game with great energy and Shaun Lilley saw his 8th minute strike come back off the Atherton post. LR gradually took control of the game but couldn’t break down a determined Daisy Hill defence. The game was won in the 85th minute when Paul Griffin hit a 30 yard strike that flew into the top corner. Jason Jones almost equalised in the final minute, but his header went just wide of the post. After this match Steve Gavin left the club to move to NWCL Division Two side Colne, managed by ex-Leigh RMI reserves boss Denzil Hart.

Team - Andy Hills, Gary Cowburn, Simon O’Brien, Ken Quigg, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Neil Wright, Lee Cryer, Andy Noone, Paul Griffin Subs Matty Brooks, Damien Kelly, Steve Gavin
 

A lot of hard work went into making the pitch playable for this game after a period of bad weather, but the pitch was still heavy and often moves broke down with the ball sticking in the mud in midfield. Keeper Andy Hills was unavailable for this game because of work commitments so the experienced Ian Senior had been signed from Witton Albion .The first half was goalless, Dominic Hoyle coming close a couple of times for Atherton and Harrogate's Jim Lagan missing a good opportunity with LR's keeper, Senior, stranded. However, Atherton struggled to deal with the sticky conditions, still trying to play their usual passing game and time after time moves broke down in the muddy midfield.
In the second half both Paul Griffin and Ken Quigg brought good saves out of Wayne Baker in the Harrogate goal and Dominic Hoyle hit first the bar and then the post with shots. Harrogate had been using the long ball tactic which the Laburnums defence was struggling to deal with. One of these long balls resulted in a corner from which Harrogate scored in the 70th minute. Ian Hart heading in after he was left completely unmarked. Within five minutes Harrogate had scored again. LR won a free kick on the edge of Harrogate's area but lost possession. The ball was belted upfield and instead of launching it straight back the Laburnums defence tried to play their way out of trouble. They lost the ball and Ian Hart scored an easy goal. With five minutes remaining Gary Cowburn scored a consolation goal for Atherton, his shot being deflected into the net, but it was too late to save the game.

LR - Ian Senior, Damien Kelly, Simon O’Brien. Ken Quigg, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Neil Wright, Lee Cryer, Dominic Hoyle, Paul Griffin Subs Gary Cowburn, Chris Smith, Andy Noone

Harrogate - Wayne Baker, Gary Lormor, Mark Watkinson, Jim Lagan, Sean Pallant, Eammon Elliott, Paul Cygan, Lee Harper, Richard Hill, Ian Hart, Matt Flannaghan Subs Richard Ward, Colin Darville, Paul Cawthorne
 

Atherton attacked from the start and Lee Cryer and Dominic Hoyle both saw efforts come back off the woodwork and the home keeper made some good saves. However, in the 30th minute LR took the lead when Lee Cryer’s header came back off the bar. The Atherton man was first to react to the rebound and his shot was deflected over the line by a defender. Two minutes later Cryer hit home from close range and in the 41st minute he completed his second hat-trick of the season when he hit home from a tight angle after being put through one on one with the keeper. A superb first half performance.
Warrington pulled two back in the second half through Simpson 56th and Tony Timmons 62nd minutes and played most of the second period with 10 men after a player was sent off for a second bookable offence.
No one at the club could have realised that they had just watched Atherton LR's last League win of the season.

Team - Ian Senior, Gary Cowburn, Simon O’Brien, Ken Quigg, Steve Iley, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Dominic Hoyle, Lee Cryer, Matty Brooks, Paul Griffin Subs Andy Noone, Elliott Simms, Ricky Wilson
 

Atherton lost this game despite being the better side, simply because Leigh made their possession count and Atherton failed to do so. Laburnums played well and had the better of the game but failed to create any clear cut scoring chances and the strikers were left frustrated at the lack of support from midfield. Leigh always looked to be struggling but did create some scoring opportunities and took one of them, Dave Ridings scoring the only goal of the match in the 31st minute, collecting a Graham Hill pass before turning a defender and hitting home. Micky Wallace hit the post for Leigh and Chris Shaw squandered a great chance. Even when Leigh’s Chris Bermingham was sent off in the 68th minute for a bad tackle on Mick Southern, Atherton couldn't take advantage. They played well, but rarely troubled the home sides goal. After the match Leigh's assistant manager Kevin Booth commented that if they could play like that and still take the three points, they must stand a chance of winning something this season.

Team - Andy Hills, Gary Cowburn, Simon O’Brien, Ken Quigg, Chris Smith, Mark Stewart, Paul Burrows, Dominic Hoyle, Lee Cryer, Matty Brooks, Paul Griffin Subs Mick Southern, Elliott Simms, Andy Noone

 

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