THE current Atherton LR continue to confound manager Alan Lord.

"I'm beginning to think we are a midweek side!" he joked over a month ago as he watched his team show little sign on a Saturday afternoon of the top drawer performances produced in a night game.

The cure to the problem continues to elude Lord if this week's evidence is anything to go by and he is far from happy with the end product of his team at the moment.

Last Saturday he admitted after seeing one of his former clubs, Warrington Town, romp to a comfortable 3-0 victory at Crilly Park in a NWCL Division Two fixture: "We got absolutely battered. No one played to their potential and arguably only debutant Paul Buckley put in a half-reasonable performance. It was very, very disappointing." Warrington led 2-0 at the break and killed the game off midway through the second half with the third goal. Tuesday night his side bounced back yet again and showed great character in a 4-3 win at Darwen.

Barry Massay opened the scoring in only the second minute after picking up the ball when a defender mis-kicked from a corner. That lead lasted just 10 minutes as a cross from the right was headed in and in the 25th minute Darwen got a penalty to make it 2-1. On 35 minutes Mike Rhead's shot was parried by the keeper and Wayne Briddon got a toe to the ball just before the defender for 2-2 at the break.

Just five minutes into the second half Darwen had a player sent off for a second bookable offence. Despite the one man advantage Rovers were kept on the back foot and the next half an hour was played almost exclusively in LR's half. The constant pressure just had to tell and on 70 minutes Darwen went 3-2 up. Rovers having left it perilously late found another gear from somewhere and 10 minutes from time Rhead beat two defenders to equalise and three minutes later added his second of the night to make it 4-3.

It could have been even better as Mark Jones almost made it five but he was denied by a great save from the home keeper. Tomorrow LR entertain Alsager.

Down but not disgraced was the story of Atherton Colls Tuesday night 2-0 home defeat by FA Vase semi finalists and title long-shots Clitheroe.

A mix-up in defending a corner on 20 minutes saw Barry Hart put the visitors in front with former Leigh RMI and LR striker Lee Cryer killing the game off with the second on 65 minutes. There were many plus points for Colls with full back Anthony Smith having just returned from a seven day enforced lay off after being concussed in the home game against Abbey Hey named as man of the match but run close by Brett Golding and Mick Bennett.

Colls entertain Newcastle Town tomorrow and on Tuesday night Prescot Cables.

Management duo Dennis Haslam and Tommy Foster made some eve of deadline signings in case of emergencies in the season run-in. Agreement was reached with Chorley manager Ken Wright to sign former Pennington star Nicky Fisher plus top rated striker Mattie Swailes, once of Little Hulton United, who four seasons ago was the subject of a four figure transfer fee in a move to Barrow. Rob Cottier has also been secured in a deal struck with Leigh RMI manager Steve Waywell.

Foster explains: "We have been able to register these players with the club just in case we need cover as there will be a lot of midweek matches towards the end of the season. They will only play to help us out if we are desperate but it is great for us that higher league clubs will agree to this sort of deal."