2:47pm Thursday 11th March 2010
Atherton Collieries 1 Stone Dominoes 0
IN their last game before the enforced winter break, Colls travelled to Stone and were well and truly thrashed by the Staffordshire club.
Stone’s 7-2 victory in December will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons from a Colls point of view, but the result at Alder House on Saturday will help exorcise the ghosts of that annihilation.
The game was a much more subdued affair than the previous encounter.
The league-topping visitors, while having more of the ball, rarely proved a serious goal threat in the opening exchanges.
For Colls, Jonathan Bridge’s shot flashed across goal and wide, then Paul Atherton headed over following a long throw.
Paul Hynes hit a rifle of a volley that would have been a contender for goal of the season had it not gone out for a goal kick.
After 26 minutes Harris was called into action as he palmed away Stone’s first serious chance of the game.
Colls almost took the lead in the closing stages of the first half. Daniel Roberts came rushing out of the visitors’ goal and was almost made to pay but Paul Shanley was unable to direct his effort into an unguarded net.
The second period was pretty much the same as the first.
Stone were dominant in terms of play, but their few chances were not taken.
Similarly, the home side had more clear-cut opportunities, but failed to take them.
Chances came and went for Colls.
Then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Phil Mooney got himself forward and put in a teasing low cross.
Several players slid in, but it was Paul Atherton who got the decisive touch to deliver the killer blow.
Colls visit AFC Blackpool on Saturday looking to exact some more revenge – this time for the back-to-back home league and cup defeats in October.
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