FOR thirty minutes of Tuesday night's cup game at Chorley, Radcliffe Borough had to face the Magpies with just ten men, yet managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived and go on to book a passage into the next round.

"The rules of the competition are different from those of the league, and as we have had a quite a few changes in personnel this season it wasn't until the day of the game that we discovered that Martyn Forrest, Ciaran Kilheeney and Dean Crowther had not been registered by the date the competition rules had set, and were therefore ineligible to play," explained Boro manager Kevin Glendon.

"We also had Scott Wilson and Andy Heald injured, and Davey Luker unavailable anyway, so we were already down to the bare bones.

"We had to call up some of the youth team lads late on, as a result they didn't get there in time for the kick-off and we had to start with ten men.

"Mike Wilkinson got to the ground half-an-hour after the start, but as we finally got up to eleven they scored!

"But Mike still managed to score on the night, so to come from behind and win it after starting with ten men, and featuring three youth team lads, required a big effort."

As for Saturday's visit to Stainton Park of Lincoln United, Glendon should have Wilson back and also be able call on Forrest, Kilheeney and Crowther

Another injury victim, Andy Heald, sees a specialist this week with regard to his sciatica, but former skipper Davey Luker is unlikely to feature again this season due to work commitments.

To get the squad back up to full strength, Glendon is in talks with midfielder Steve Torpey, who has just left Altrincham, and left-winger Jason Dormer, currently with Ashton United.

Saturday sees a return to league action and the visit of Lincoln United (kick-off is 3pm.), currently occupying 13th spot in the table.

"I know nothing about them and games like this are never easy, but at least we are at home and in a good vein of form," said Glendon.

"We have also invited a whole school, all 250 of them from St Mary's County Primary in Radcliffe to the game.

"They have all received complimentary tickets and we have agreed to give the school 50 per cent of the revenue from the tickets bought by the children's parents."