[themaclad]

Lancaster City 0 Atherton Collieries 0 Att 435




First time back at the Giant Axe in 2 and a half years, not a lot has changed although each side now has two dugouts, the castle and the Priory still tower above the ground and trains still can be viewed arriving and departing from the station at the top of the hill.
A decent attendence including a fair few from Greater Manchester, many of the faithful that I've not seen since my last visit to the ground are still going which is good to see.
The game itself was not a classic far from it, uneven pitch, soft after the deluge we have had, meant the ball spent a lot of time being propelled skywards chances were limited in a tight game between two sides locked together in mid table. Have to sy neither keeper was overworked during the 90 minutes. First half especiallly was attritional, a free kick from Bailey brought an easy save from teh visiting keeper and a header over the bar frm a visiting defender from a corner were probably the closest we got to a goal. Interesting to note the new fad of having someone who could take a long throw seems to have affected lower league football, both sides had someone who could throw into the penalty area from a throw in


Second half had more entertainment although like the first period little to trouble the keepers, the visitors had probably the best chance a three on one break sadly for them the lad with the ball didn't pass to either of the spare men and the chance went a begging, near the end a Teague effort his the side netting, plenty of honest endeavour but no end product, somehow do not think it will be two and a half years before I'm at the Axe again