Atherton LR 0 – 3 Whitchurch Alport
 
A dominant Whitchurch Alport performance earned Luke Goddard`s men with a second win in three days & a second consecutive clean sheet. In a period with three games in five days the excuse of injuries or availability was not used by the squad as Goddard made six personnel changes & numerous positional changes from the AFC Blackpool game. This included debuts for 17 year old Reece Taylor, goalkeeper Krystian Burzynski & attacker Shawn Melusi, aswell as the return of Kevin Street and Nick Marley.
 
The Reds had the 1st half task of going up the Crilly Park slope but started well playing some good football despite a difficult pitch given the recent weather. With the hosts looking to gain advantage of the slope they created a first decent opportunity. Alport switched off from a free kick but Ryan Thomas was there to clear the danger when LR thought they were about to take the lead. After this opportunity it was then a real convincing performance from the visitors. Alex Hughes enjoyed a fantastic game & a disallowed goal after 20 minutes was the warning of what was to come for the home side. The breakthrough arrived after 30 minutes as good work by Melusi down the left hand side led to a ball finding Arron Johns in the box who finished well with his left foot into the bottom corner (0-1).
 
Further good chances then fell for Johns, Hughes and Lee Pickerill but Ben Purdham in goal for Atherton was a determined individual & made some good saves to keep the scoreline at 0-1 at half time.
 
Street was replaced by Joe Howell for the second half as Alport looked to now make the most of their dominance & finish the game off. It took just five minutes for the goal to arrive & it was worth the wait. A free kick was delivered from the right by Marley, Hughes met the free kick first & directed a looping header into the top corner giving Purdham no chance in goal as Alport extended their lead (0-2). The away side were playing some excellent flowing football looking a threat every time they went forward with great energy & quality from the whole side. Debutant Taylor then topped off a man of the match performance when he controlled the ball & slid a pass through to Johns who calmly beat Purdham for his second goal of the game (0-3). With twenty minutes still to play Alport will have been disappointed not to add more goals but at the other end strong performances earned Burzynski & his back four another clean sheet.
 
 
Overall a really good display that was enjoyed by the travelling Red Army. Atherton LR carried their own threat throughout the game but no one could deny this wasn’t a convincing win for the visitors as they push to consolidate a play-off position. With so many players still to return, the busy schedule & testing week off the field looks to have only united the group even further. The Reds are back on the road again this weekend as they travel to New Mills this Saturday** (3pm).
 
**Limited spaces left on the supporters coach, please book ASAP if you wish to travel on the coach