Alport 1 Litherland REMYCA 2
 
A mammoth Bank Holiday crowd of 670 went home disappointed as Alport lost narrowly against a promotion rival at Yockings Park. Nick Marley’s goal 12 minutes from time sparked a Red tidal wave as Remy clung on desperately to protect their lead. And the inside of the post came to the visitor’s rescue when Marley’s dipping right foot shot agonisingly fell into the gloves of Lee Carr. Simon Everall flashed an early shot wide and Lennon Whewell went close for the Merseysiders but the only goal of the first half came 10 minutes before the break. Alport’s defenders had several chances to clear their lines and when they failed to do so, Michael Boyle shot across Danny Read to break the deadlock.
 
By that stage the Reds had already been deprived of the services of top scorer Mike Blundell who failed to respond to treatment, and his replacement, Alex Hughes, forced Carr into a decent stop just before half time. It was a shame that no Alport player had gambled on the ball coming back out off the keeper and a defender came around to hoof away the danger.
 
After the break Read had to go full length to deny Colin Quirk an early second half goal but a minute later Read was beaten by the same player. Quirk looked up and leathered the ball from 25 yards over the Alport stopper with a great strike that dipped in under the bar. PJ Hudson and Stevie McNichol both got shots away – one on target and one off – but the goal seemed to have knocked Alport out of their stride and the huge crowd fell mostly silent.
 
Alex Ryan was a shade unfortunate to see a 75th minute finish ruled out by the lino’s flag and within minutes Whitchurch halved the deficit when Marley’s shot from outside the box skipped up off the wet pitch and past Carr. Yockings went wild and that set the tone for a very nervy last 10 minutes for Litherland who were pinned back and forced to defend for their lives. Carr saved well from young Luke Walley before Marley was so unlucky to see his shot strike the inside of the post 5 minutes from time. Then, Carr made a wonderful save to deny Walley what would have been a deserved equaliser with just two minutes left. Remy defended superbly and Carr did well on a few occasions to punch clear inviting balls into the box, and once or twice Remy had chances to score when they had men over with the Reds so committed to attack in order to try and rescue a point. In the end it wasn’t meant to be but Alport are far from out of a fascinating promotion race.