Lower Darwen 1 Stanhill Lions 1

THERE's no secret regarding which tactics to adopt when playing at wild, windy and wet King George's in Accrington.

If you win the toss, charge down the slope with the wind at your back and hope you can rattle six (gale-assisted goals) past the opposition before half-time.

After the break, position all your players in a line across the front of the penalty area and restrict the opposition to pot shots from 25 yards. Anything that goes above head height in the direction of the goals is guaranteed to clear the crossbar by at least 15 feet and end up rolling down Royds Avenue, wasting a valuable five minutes, while your keeper toddles off to retrieve it.

Thankfully, both sides tried to play football, which meant the ball was kept on the deck wherever possible and, despite the most trying conditions, conjured up a creditable and entertaining performance.

Predictably it was Lower Darwen, kicking down the slope, who made the early running and when Stuart Hargreaves broke clear of the Stanhill defence 20 yards out. It needed a desperate tackle from the chasing Craig Aspin to cut out the danger.

Garry Catterall followed up with a shot from outside the area that flashed past the post and Paul Jones just missed the target with a free kick which beat the Stanhill wall from 25 yards.

Stanhill replied with a flowing move involving Garry Hargreaves and Jason Livesey. Inter-changing passes down the left flank, Hargreaves took Livesey's return pass and swung in a cross that Chris Aspin hit just wide of the far post.

Lower Darwen looked to have scored the opener when Pete Drugan latched on to a ball wide the six yard box and held off two challenges before hammering a shot past Daniel Bury from close range, but a linesman's flag cut short any celebrations. Drugan, now fired up, chased a retreating Garry Hargreaves to the corner flag, dispossessed him and hit a great effort that cleared the Stanhill crossbar with little to spare.

In the last few minutes of the half, Stanhill almost snatched the lead when Jason Bradshaw powered past two defenders and set up Ben Turner only to see him knock his effort wide, when he really should have hit the target. Bradshaw faired no better seconds later when presented with a similar shooting opportunity, blasting wide from 15 yards out. After the break both sides had chances to open their accounts as Stanhill's John Riley went close and Daniel Bury in the Stanhill goal raced off his line to deny Catterall.

The deadlock was broken in the 65th minute when Stanhill's Bradshaw lobbed in a corner that the wind dragged only feet from Chris Bolton's goal line and the industrious John Riley was there to power his header downards past the static Bolton.

Stanhill, having taken the lead, failed to press home their advantage and allowed Lower Darwen back into the game through some sloppy defending.

In the 75th minute, Nick Beardsworth's through ball to the edge of the six yard box seemed to be covered by defender Daz Livesey, but a moment of indecision by Livesey allowed Catterall to pounce and he instantly punished the red faced full back, with a shot that beat Bury at the near post.

Stanhill pushed forward relentlessly looking to regain the lead, but despite a couple of long range efforts from Jason Livesey that went wide and a Bradshaw shot on target, that Bolton held with rock solid assurance, the game ended all square.

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