St Helens Town 3 Glossop N E 1

St Helens Town 5 Rossendale United 0 TOWN stepped out at Hoghton Road on Saturday to complete their home fixtures with their third game in five days.

And a grand finale ensued with Steve Pennington bagging four to equal his previous tally of 45 set two seasons ago. His pursuit of Jackie Kendrick's club record of 49 set in Towns Lancashire Combination days in 1974 would appear to be out of reach but in Town's two remaining games he could certainly surpass Phil Stainton's 1965 haul of 46 which stood for nine years as the club record until Kendrick's feat.

Following on from the previous Tuesday night's great win at Burscough, Town took on Glossop at Hoghton Road on Thursday evening and a high quality match ensued as Town's spirited second half display saw them run out 3-1 winners. A second minute penalty miss by Pennington looked costly as Glossop's Kevin Parr volleyed a spectacular opener in the 45th minute and the Derbyshire side would have gone on to kill the game off but for two superb saves from Town's Mike Allison in the second half.

Once Pennington turned in the 69th minute equaliser St Helens never looked back and rampaging down the flanks Mick Gilmore slid them ahead in the 72nd minute before Steve O'Neil put the issue beyond doubt with five minutes remaining. Towns Lanes Trophies man of the match was Mike Allison.

On Saturday Rossendale United were Town's final visitors and they were soundly beaten by a St Helens side which gave its fringe players an outing but the mood was the same as youngsters Karl and Gary Jones operated at wing back while Paul Gwyther showed his trickery up front.

Two up by half time via a Pennington penalty in the 31st minute following a handling offence and a header by the same player registering his 105th career goal for Town in the 43rd minute.

The issue was put beyond any doubt in the 54th minute when Pellet completed his hat-trick when challenging Rossendale keeper Sloane following Allison's huge kick and the visitors' keeper took his protest too far and was promptly sent off. Now it was just a matter of how many Town would get and O'Neil notched his 27th goal of the season following good work by Gilmore before Pennington completed the nap hand with a tip in cleverly set up by Gwyther on the left.

For Rossendale it was a day to forget and even a consolation eluded them as Thomson fired a 69th minute penalty kick wide before Houldsworth saw his header rebound off the post and into keeper Allisons arms. Lanes Trophies man of the match was Mick Gilmore.

Town now have just two games left. Notably Haslingden (away) tonight (Thursday) before the curtain comes down on a good season at Vauxhall GM on Saturday where a win could well secure fourth place in the NWCL Division One table.

Lottery numbers 1 3 7 12 13 14. No winners. This weeks draw £1250 on numbers 1-14.

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