Chorley 2 Knowsley United 2

IN a game full of incident and controversy, Chorley recovered from a dreadful start.

They pulled back two goals and all but snatch three points.

Assisted by woeful Chorley defending, a pacy Knowsley side raced into a two-goal lead within 15 minutes, John Stannard cutting in to score on 12 minutes and Wes Kinney profiting from a huge deflection to poke in a second.

After Jamie Proctor (35 minutes) had reduced Chorley's arrears from close range, a late challenge by Dean Emerson escalated into a wholesale brawl with the visitors manager incredibly racing onto the field and aiming a kick at Emerson and a punch at Kenny Mayers. Mayers, along with United's ex-Stanley centre back Eddie Johnstone, was sent off and the loss proved more unsettling to Knowsley than to the Magpies.

With the home side having much the better of the second half, Lee Trundle crashed a shot against the bar and Karl Marginson later hit a post.

Brian Ross equalised on 74 minutes, deflecting a Tony Ward shot past the keeper and was only denied a winning goal by the curious decision of the referee to award Chorley a free kick after Ross had shrugged off a professional foul and stuck the ball into the net.

Breathtaking stuff - but Chorley's defensive problems have still to be solved.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.