Irlam welcomed Evo-Stik opposition Radcliffe Borough to Silver Street on Tuesday night, as pre-season preparations are now finalised. Irlam put in a fantastic performance on the night, running out 2-1 winners through well-taken goals from Jordan Icely and Liam Morrison.

Irlam settled into their game quicker than their opponents and began to cause problems almost immediately. However, the first chance of note would fall to Radcliffe, their no.9 spinning and firing narrowly wide across White’s goal. Maybe this early twisting and turning is what forced Irlam defender Braithwaite into an early exit, the no.5 leaving the pitch suddenly with a nasty-looking stomach injury.

Irlam followed up with two guilt edged chances of their own, both Icely and Campbell misplacing headers, which on another day would have found the back of the net. However, it wouldn’t be long before the scoring was opened and it was Icely once again who found himself in the position to score. Liam Green won the ball well in the right back position and fed the ball into Liam Morrison, who drove at the heart of Radcliffe’s defence before slipping in Icely, the forward making no mistake to fire low into the bottom corner from 12 yards and make it 1-0 to Irlam.

As the half wore on, despite Radcliffe having spells of good possession, it was Irlam who were looking the more dangerous during this period. Again, Morrison broke through on two more occasions, only to see his first effort saved and his second fly narrowly over the bar. Captain Ryan Longworth urged his side to keep their tempo and Irlam regained control of possession as the half drew to a close. A snapshot from Campbell was the only other real chance of note, as the referee signalled for the half time break with Irlam’s one-goal lead intact.

The second half began and Irlam looked to get in behind again, the powerful running of Illidge, Mooney and Icely causing problems for the Radcliffe centre halves. Yet the second goal would ironically come at a time when Irlam weren’t playing their best football of the evening. The ball once again began on the right, with Gaz Mooney finding Christian Lawlor in the channel with a brilliantly weighted pass. Lawlor’s square ball looked to find Icely but just missed it’s target; However, Icely recovered to gather the ball and pick out Morrison, the midfielder shifting the ball before planting it into the bottom corner to double Irlam’s lead and make it 2-0 to the home side.

Radcliffe seemed to respond to this setback in the final 25 minutes to play their best football of the match. Dangerous wide players were introduced by Radcliffe and Green, Kpohgomou, Adams and Peters had to be well on their toes to keep the visitors out. In front of them, Tom Russell was putting on a tidy display, breaking up the play and using the ball well in possession. The resurgence of the visitors saw Irlam now playing on the break, with Illidge having the best chance to wrap the game up; the midfielder timing his run perfectly to beat the offside trap, yet his attempted lob only ended up in the goalkeepers hands, much to the midfielder’s disappointment.

In the final minute of the game, Radcliffe grabbed themselves a well-worked goal to reduce the deficit. Tidy play down the left saw the ball worked into Irlam’s area before the ball was stood up into the 6-yard box, a Borough player rising highest to head high past Aldred in the Irlam goal and make the score 2-1.

Despite this, Irlam very nearly had the final say, Morrison once more bursting into the area before flashing his shot agonisingly wide of the far post.The final whistle sounded soon after, with Irlam in good form heading into Saturday’s final pre-season fixture; Trafford FC the visitors to Silver Street as both sides put the final touches on their preparations for the upcoming campaign.