A 33rd-minute penalty was enough to earn Irlam 3pts on Saturday against our First Team. This, despite Hanley dominating the game for most of the second half (first-half being even), and doing everything but score**. It was one of those games where we should have won the game really, never mind draw or lose it. However, it means our poor run continues and with Hanley now well and truly in a relegation battle ( 2pts from bottom position following other results yesterday, though we do have 2 games in hand on those around us).
** In the 77th minute Hanley looked to have equalised when an effort bounced down from the bar, into the goal in a diagonal motion, and then back out again. It didn’t appear to be one of those close calls and many agreed it was a goal. The assistant referee wasn’t really in the best position to see as he was level with the last defender on the edge of the 18yrd box.
It was a better afternoon for our Reserves who continued their good run of form by beating Abbey Hulton Utd Reserves at Potteries Park. Walsh and Sambrook the goalscorers. That’s now 3 wins on the bounce for the Reserves who move up to 8th position, and still with games in hand on most teams (as many as 7).