PADIHAM struggled to come to terms with a very heavy Milnthorpe pitch and after 35 minutes found themselves trailing the South Cumbrian side 2-0.

Two minutes before half-time, Daniel Sharples then gave the Storks a fighting chance of some sort of recovery in this West Lancashire Football League Division One game. He reduced the arrears with a goal from close range after a header from McCluskey was only partially saved and the young forward pounced on the loose ball.

With time running out in the second half, Sharples was again in the thick of the action when this time he turned provider and set up Lee Chambers to crash in the equaliser with less than a minute of the game remaining.

The point keeps Padiham top of the league table at exactly the halfway stage of the season.

Padiham Reserves lost at home to Leyland Motors Athletic Reserves 4-2 with newcomer to the side Robert Johnson scoring the goals.

Padiham A lost 4-0 at home to George & Dragon in the Premier Division of the Burnley & District Football League. A series of missed opportunities for the Storks third team cost them dearly the longer the game went on.

Padiham face Thornton Cleveleys at the Arbories on Saturday (kick-off 2.15pm).

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