CHORLEY 0 SKELMERSDALE UNITED 0

BATTLING SKEM BRING CHORLEY BACK TO STORMY CORNER

CHORLEY 0 SKELMERSDALE UNITED 0

By Neil Leatherbarrow

Tommy Lawson sent his men out in the FA Trophy at Chorley’s Victory Park on Saturday against the odds, the National League North side are a much bigger and stronger side than Skelmersdale and the heavy pitch that only past a pitch inspection at 1-45pm suited them much more than Skelmersdale. Even so Skem played their usual passing game and limited the hosts to a meagre portion of chances, before finishing well to set up a replay at Stormy Corner on Tuesday night.
The first-half saw defences in control at both ends of the pitch. Chorley had opportunities at either end of the half, Skelmersdale in the middle.
James Dean putting a half-chance wide of Skelmersdale’s near post after former Southport forward Darren Stephenson had fought his way down the left wing in the ninth minute.
On 24 minutes Ged Kinsella was upended just outside the Chorley “D” but Louis Corrigan’s free-kick was off target.
The final action of the half arrived two minutes from the whistle when a Chorley corner from the left was played a couple of times before Andy Teague got in a header that was fairly comfortably dealt with by Skelmersdale goalkeeper Martin Fearon.
After the interval it was expected that Chorley would go on the offensive and they duly did, though one incident apart after Skelmersdale had weathered a twenty minute spell that was it as far as serious threat was concerned.
Chorley did ask more questions of the Skelmersdale defence when they switched from two up front to three up front on 53 minutes, the Magpies manager Matt Jensen introducing substitute Sam Cosgrove.
On 53 minutes Fearon pulled off his best save of the match, diving full length to palm a Jake Cottrell shot wide of his right-hand post, it was particularly good because surely he must have seen the shot very late in a crowded goalmouth.
Both Stephenson and the mobile Cosgrove put efforts wide of the far post as Chorley’s pressure got quite intense around the hour mark, but Skelmersdale defended well during this period.
A clearance off the line followed up by a shot against the post gave Tommy Lawson the signal he needed to make changes, Dean the aggressor on both occasions.
The fresh legs gave Skelmersdale more impetus and they started to take advantage of Chorley’s tired legs in the latter stages and the game generally became more stretched, but defences ruled until the end.
The reality was that the weather conditions were the real winner on the day, it was difficult for both teams to get any rhythm going on the soft surface, which it must be said was still a lot better than when Skelmersdale last visited Chorley a couple of years ago. Chorley will still be favourites at Skelmersdale, but if Skelmersdale nullify Chorley as well again, it is far from impossible that Skelmersdale can progress into the next round of the FA Trophy. It will certainly be an interesting night on Tuesday.

CHORLEY: Ashton, Ross, Lynch (Whitham, 72), Teague ©, Charnock, Cottrell, Jarvis, Guy (Cosgrove, 53)), Dean, Bond, Stephenson Subs (not used) Roscoe, Rittenberg, Rigby

SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Fearon, Mooney, Holden, McIntosh ©, Rendell, Woolcott (Staunton-Turner, 79), Kinsella, Strickland, Almond, Corrigan (Abadaki, 73), Ince (Kusaloka, 90) Subs (not used) Hardwick, Gyimah

Referee: Peter Gibbons
Attendance: 559

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