Skelmersdale United showed that their promotion push is very much alive and well at home to a Trafford team who won 5-0 away on last week, playing some superb attacking football, this with only one enforced change to the team from Saturday. The performance and result, setting them up nicely for Saturday’s big FA Cup clash with Blyth Spartans at Stormy Corner.

Skelmersdale made a storming start to the game and when Connor McCarthy rocked the Trafford crossbar from 25 yards in the 4th minute, their intention was clear.

The 19 year old forward was at it again two minutes later and only a bad bounce prevented Dan Mitchley from netting from McCarthy’s cross from the right.

In the 14th minute the Skelmersdale pressure brought reward in stunning fashion. McCarthy went on an enterprising run and played the ball to Mitchley, a defender got a foot to the ball and sent it to just outside the penalty area semi-circle, Mike Simpson was following up and with the outside of his right-boot sent a rocket of a shot curling well away from a stranded Trafford keeper and into the net via the post, if Simpson had been called “van Persie” they would have shown the goal for weeks on the TV.

Trafford are an attacking team too and in their ranks they have one of the league’s top marksmen in Michael Oates, he burst into action on 22 minutes, but Martin Fearon was up to his attempt on goal.

The Trafford goalkeeper Andy Robertson is a man with a reputation and he maintained it on the night in various ways. One in variation was in the 28th minute when he saved lowdown from Mitchley after the Skem Express Cars 50005 Man of the Match Tom Ince took a quick free-kick.

Before the interval, McCarthy went close twice and the Skelmersdale faithful drank their half-time brews contemplating more of the same in the remaining 45 minutes.

They got more. After seeing off a period of Trafford pressure with relative comfort Skelmersdale got on top again. McCarthy was again frustrated; this time by a goalpost, after Curtis Thompson and Mitchley set him up in the 57th minute.

In the 64th minute the Skelmersdale public were treated to another cracking goal. After holding the ball up, Thompson rolled the ball into the path of overlapping forward Peter Wylie, he unleashed a bullet of a shot along the floor into the far corner from 18 yards.

Robertson thwarted McCarthy again then the big keeper saved from Danny Wisdom, before Skelmersdale finished the game off in the 77th minute. Thompson was at the fulcrum of the move again, moving in from the left before releasing Mitchley and he made it 3-0.

Before the end, Mitchley went close again after Wylie created more problems for Trafford. By the end Skelmersdale were very good value for the 3-0 margin.

Another interesting observation emerged from the night too. How long is it since all three Skelmersdale goals were scored by three players who actually live in Skelmersdale?

SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Fearon, Wylie, Wisdom, McIntosh ©, Simpson (Mooney, 41), Kirkbride, Thompson, Strickland, Mitchley, McCarthy, Ince Subs (not used) Sumner, Lloyd, O’Reilly, Golding

TRAFFORD: Robertson, Welsh, Smart, Mason, Bayunu, Fallon, Payne (Shaw, 77), Andrews ©, Oates, Schofield (Ahern, 60), Hackney (Palmer, 68) Subs (not used) Chalmers, Heron

Referee: Martin Woods

Attendance: 184