Bears fall to Burscough

New signings Aaron Bott from Leek Town and William Booth from Witton were in the starting eleven.

The opening exchanges saw the Bears attacking well and Dan Cope had a header cleared and Ricky Bridge made a strong run down the left from his own half, but the ball was put out for a throw. Kyle Diskin worked an opening for Cope but his shot was wide.

Tom Morris played a poor pass in the middle of park which allowed Korie-Butler a run at goal and his powerful shot was tipped over by Craig Ellison. Cope again headed wide from a free-kick then Josh Ryder went even closer with his header but inches wide. At the other end Ryder put in a superb challenge to deny the home side. The Bears had a shout for a penalty when new signing Aaron Bott was bundled over but nothing was given.

Most of the first half shots were coming from the Bears, but little actually troubled the keeper. Christiansen had a chance for the home side but, placed well, he hammered his shot well over the bar.

Diskin was working well on the right and he had one shot that the keeper parried and the rebound just eluded Cope and another which just skimmed the outside of the far post.

The last action of the half saw a Burscough free-kick just outside the Bears box, it was hammered in and Ellison stood firm, parrying it away.
Half Time Burscough 0-0 Congleton Town

Ellison made a great one-on-one save in the opening minutes of the second half. Ryder then put a header from a Diskin free-kick just wide. Bott made a strong run into the box only for a defenders toe to touch the ball back to the keeper. Lewis Bergin almost got Bott in seconds later with a pass just out if his reach.

It was much like the first half with the Bears unable to fix their radar on the home goal with shots and headers going wide.

The winning goal came on 69 minutes. A Bears move broke down in the middle of the field, the ball was knocked forward and James Salkeld, collected it, ran through the Bears defence and fired into the far corner, Ellison having no chance.

Bears brought on Arron Johns for Bergin to boost the front line and Luke Horrocks for the hard working Sam Freaks.

From a Bears corner, Botts header was held well by the keeper.

As the clock wound down the Bears continued to create little and the final whistle saw another defeat this time to the team second from the bottom of the table.

Team: Eliison, Brislen, Morris, Bergin (Johns 73), Ryder, Booth, Diskin, Freaks (Horrocks 77), Cope, Bott, Bridge
Unused: Rutter, Griffith

Attend 78, Bears Man of the Match Tom Morris
This was a big blow to the Bears in their quest for points to move away from the relegation dogfight.