North West Counties League
Division 1 North
Friday 29th March 2024
Kick Off 12.30 On Time!
F.C. St. Helens 3 Runcorn Town 2, attendance 392
27’ 0-1
28’ 1-1
36’ 2-1
49’ 2-2
78’ 3-2 (pen)
@ Windleshaw Sports Ground
Windleshaw Road
Denton’s Green
St. Helens
WA10 6TD
£5 Admission
£2 Programme, 28 pages.
Finding a previously unvisited ground hosting a match on a Good Friday is getting harder as each year passes, with fewer leagues now scheduling games on this day, but rather surprisingly, I had a choice of three to pick from. One in North Wales, but at a soulless 3G cage with no spectator viewing area. Another in Warrington, also being played on 3G, but not the regular home venue of the host club, or the one here in St. Helens, which was my preferred choice, as it was on grass and also the one with the earlier kick off (brought forward from 3pm to avoid a clash with the St. Helens v Wigan Warriors RL game that was live on tv and being shown in the clubhouse)…. As well as re-completing the North West Counties League once again, it also had something on the game….a win would see the hosts clinch the league title!
Despite it being 1st versus 13th in the league table, it wasn’t as straightforward a win as it would seem. Runcorn had won the reverse fixture 2-1 back in September, before winning 3-1 in a league cup game when they met the following month. There was little between the two today, in a game that could have gone either way. Runcorn opened the scoring in the twenty seventh minute, breaking down the left before cutting inside to see a shot saved by the ‘keeper, but the rebound followed in. St. Helens levelled immediately, when a mix up between ‘keeper and defender saw the striker nip between the two. He was fouled by the ‘keeper, but managed to score from a tight angle before the Referee had a chance to award a penalty. Another defensive mix up, when not dealing with a diagonal through ball, saw St. Helens edge in front eight minutes later, but Runcorn made it 2-2 a couple of minutes into the second half, setting the game up perfectly and had a couple of really good chances to have gone back in front. With twelve minutes left, St. Helens got what turned out to be the winning goal, coolly dispatching a penalty which was awarded after the ‘keeper brought down a home player just inside the box. Any hope of a Runcorn comeback soon disappeared though, as they had a player sent off just three minutes later and St. Helens comfortably held out for the remainder, although it ended up 10 a side for the last few seconds of stoppage time, when the hosts had a player red carded as well, but too late to alter the outcome.
Traffic wasn’t as bad as I had feared and it was under four hours drive each way. Even the weather was kind. Although it rained all the way up the M40 and there was quite a downpour around Warrington on the way back, it remained dry and sunny for the match. A good job really, as there were a few soft looking areas around the centre of the pitch that may not have took too much more of the wet stuff.
