Accrington Combination - Walmsley Cup final: Bridge Inn 5 Park 1

Despite a bright start from Park, Bridge punished their rivals with a combination of fine finishing, a touch of luck and a goalkeeper blunder.

Jason Ashworth opened the scoring when he raced on to a superb through ball by John Riley, skipped around keeper Stephen Galpin and rolled the ball home.

Galpin was beaten again in Park’s next attack when Andrew Sullivan, who looked like he could have been offside, cooly lifted the ball over the Park keeper.

And Galpin’s final action before limping off was to spill Matt McNamara’s cross at the feet of Ashworth who rolled the ball home.

Park were reeling but refused to throw in the towel and set about getting back in to the game.

Darren Rogers got Park’s first shot on target after Mick Pattern dispossessed Timmy Allen.

And they cut Bridge’s lead when Adam Harbour, who stood out in the middle of the park, headed Shaun Bursnell’s weak kick back towards goal and Scott Noon finished with a rising shot.

Park sensed a way back in to the final and it took a smart header by Allen to clear Rogers cross before Matthew Woods cleared the bar with a sweetly struck free kick. But Bridge rode the mini fightback and went for the kill straight from the start of the second half.

Ben Tattersall had a shot blocked then Sullivan’s follow-up hit team-mate Mulkerrin on the goal-line.

McNamara and then Ashworth both missed the target before the fourth goal arrived, McNamara curling in a free kick from the edge of the area.

That proved to be the decisive blow for Bridge and knocked the stuffing out of Park.

All the attacking was now coming from Bridge and Mulkerrin and Sullivan went close to adding a fifth before Mulkerrin did just that, poking the ball home after Ashworth’s effort was parried by Prestige.

It was damage limitation stuff for Park now and, to their credit, they did just that as they prevented Bridge ending with the flurry of goals they started with which ultimately won them the game.