REACTIONS: NWCFL Managers give their thoughts on their NWCFL First Division North and South results

Sun 9th February 2020 | Manager Reactions | By Craig Kendall

NWCFL First Division North

Daisy Hill manager Brian Hart, "Decent enough game. I was disappointed with us giving away a soft penalty. Happy to get back into the game only for two individual errors giving them a 3-1 half time lead.

"Second half has got used to the surface we managed to pass it better. Our keeper made a great save which spurred us on and two good finishes from Ramwell and Ridings earned us a point. Showed good character to get something from the game."

Bacup Borough manager Brent Peters, "First of all I congratulate Atherton on the win. Secondly when I see comments of deserved victory I have to question, deserved is when a team dominates a game. Well unless I was with the man on the moon at no time did our opponents dominate the game, just the opposite, we dominated the game.

"Had we have had a clinical natural finisher on the pitch despite our opponents three goals, they would and should have been well out of sight. Only last week I muted we needed a ruthless finisher, it was proved today, we got a good early lead from a well-taken goal from Anthony Hall but Anthony should have come away with at least a hat-trick, not all bad missed opportunities.

Some credit must go to the Atherton keeper especially the reaction save just before half time. Credit to Atherton with their equaliser capitalising on a rare error from our captain who incidentally should probably not have played due to a chest infection.

"We still went for it to get us back in the game, which resulted in a third breakaway goal and almost a fourth when Bradley Hancock made a rash challenge in the box for a penalty I had no issues with, but our keeper Henry Turner made one of only two saves in the game he has had to make.

Peters finished by saying, "Again I congratulate Atherton on their win but I question the word deserved, as for Bacup, if I don't find a clinical finisher quickly then we could be in trouble." 

Atherton LR manager Mark Robinson, "Today's much needed three points were well deserved and despite difficult conditions shows what we can achieve when we play as a team in the way they have been coached.

"Too many individual performances of late have been counterproductive to what we want from the team. We need to use this as a platform to build from and get some consistency in performance levels again.

"The recent additions to the squad will certainly aid this process, all three debutants today did very well."

Extremely windy right after the match today so we had to wait a while to do the post match interview after #AthertonLRFC's great win today ⬇️⬇️#UpTheLR #NWCFL #NonLeague #Freelancer https://t.co/oqqmaWjIcU

— PurpleDon Media (@PurpledonMedia) February 8, 2022

Here is what @richardcookney had to say after beating @ashtontownafc 4-2. pic.twitter.com/Jq4slxiMpi

— Garstang FC (@GarstangFC) February 8, 2020

Holker Old Boys manager Kevin Watkins, "Going into the game on the back of four wins we felt we could get something from the game and we certainly deserved something from it. Two of our squad were given a great opportunity to travel with Barrow AFC and obviously, that impacted us as a squad, especially the loss of Tom Dawson who has been in great form in front of goal notching so many goals.

"First half Lower Breck had a lot of the game, we were slow to start and get in the game, gradually got into last 10-15 of the 1st half and were frustrated at half time about our performance but acknowledged at 1-0 it wasn't a bad scoreline to be at.

"Second half the momentum of the game shifted and we took charge of the game and got rewarded by constant pressure with Sam Joel earning and scoring the penalty with 10 to go. At that point it looked like a draw would be fair and if anyone was going on to win it I felt it was ourselves but unfortunately two moments in quick succession where we weren't brave enough they had enough quality to punish us, so credit to Lower Breck for doing so and that is the exact reason they are top of the league but it hurt our lads to concede such a soft goal because they had deserved something from the game.

Lower Breck manager Gary Moore, "I am delighted to come away from a Holker with the three points. First half we were exceptional with the ball with some quality passing football being played.

"Second half was a tougher task with the wind and slope taking effect and with Holker stepping up their game and equalising with ten minutes to play we had to raise our game once again and we did that and come away with another valuable away win.

"We had me and 16-year-old Alfie Roberts on the bench today as we were as thin as it gets for numbers with losing two players this week and with the divisions leading goalscorer Ste Milne also away it was always going to be tough but am delighted to see the lads dig deep for the cause once again.

"Lastly credit to the Holker groundstaff who delivered a cracking surface today which is not easy at this stage of the season. 

St Helens Town David Platt, "A frustrating day today with both teams not showing the quality I'm sure they would have wanted to. 

"With the game decided in the third minute due to an unchallenged defensive header that was missed and a tight goal line shout from the officials when it seemed the keeper had made the save. Not one to write home about and we look forward to putting in a better performance next time.

Nelson manager Andy Harrison, "The result doesn't reflect the performance if I'm completely honest. First half we blew St Helens away and if it was 6-0 no one could have said we didn't deserve it.

"But yet again we were so wasteful in front of goal to only go in 1-0 up at half time I was extremely disappointed. We played some fantastic football and looked dangerous every time we went forward, but as everyone knows it's all about taking chances and we just didn't do that."

"I knew St. Helens would change their system at half time as first half they were all over the show and to their credit they did just that and it took us 10 minutes or so to get to grips with things. Our 17-year-old debut keeper made two outstanding saves and we saw out a second-half that in the end was fairly even. 

"Fair play to St Helens for coming back at us second half but truth be told we should have been out of sight after 20 minutes. But this stage of the season its results that count and that's a much needed three points on the board. Very much looking forward to what is always a battle against Bacup next week! 

Steeton manager Roy Mason, "I thought that we played with a bit more intensity than of previous games and we were on the front foot in the first half. It feels like we’ve lost two points from being ahead but I’m sure Ash and the Shelley lads feel the same.

"They came on strong in the second half and put us under a fair bit of pressure. But as a manager, you can only ask for your players to give you 100% and I felt we did that today."

NWCFL First Division South

Alsager Town manager Stuart Tulloch, "The first 35 minutes its brilliant performance and deserved the 1-0 lead and could have been 2 up but failed to punish Cheadle.

"But then a 10-minute collapse put us on the back foot. We gave a penalty away which made it 1-1 and fell asleep of a long throw put us 2-1 down at the break.  

"The second half was all Cheadle and were worthy of the win today. "

Cheadle Heath Nomads manager Andy Gray," It's good to be able to celebrate a win again and it's much needed following our recent run of results. 

"It didn't look likely as we were off the pace initially in this game again, and we could have easily had an early penalty but it didn't go our way. 

"Alsager did get a penalty midway through the half and took a deserved lead. But we showed a resilience that hasn't been evident lately and when we did later get a penalty of our own when Kyle Foley was upended in the box, it was a chance to level the game which was duly dispatched by top scorer Rick Tindall. 

"Jack warren scored a second before half time with a quality strike and we went in ahead for the first time in a while. 

"The second half was much more controlled from our point of view and a Tindall header made it 3-1 and allowed us to be a bit more comfortable and play the type of football that's been missing in recent weeks. 

"Tindall's hat trick goal late on made the game safe and we were comfortable winners in the end. Credit to Alsager they kept plugging away but food solid defensive work kept them at bay." 

Barnton joint-manager Neil Murray, "A wins a win and we’ll take those points all day long. 

"Nerves were a huge factor in the game today I think as we seemed tentative and not are usual clinical selves in the final third but a Connor Anderson header in the 1st half was enough to give us something to protect in the second period.

"In the second half especially the game should have been dead and buried as we should have scored a hatful. I can only recall them having one good opportunity from 20/25 yards that had my heart in my mouth and the missed penalty late on from us made it a nervy last five. 

"However we start to draw in on those above us now and onto lairds on Tuesday night and we’re gunning for another win.

New Mills manager David Birch," How we haven't won that game today is beyond me! We should be 5 or 6 up at half-time. We don't take our chances and they have one chance and score so fair play.

"We went down to 10 men and still dominated. We deserved to win but after going to 10 men we take a point."

Abbey Hulton Utd manager Russell Leadbetter, "It was a better display from us today. We scored in the first minute and the game ended 1-0. We had more chances to score that we didn't take and defended very well.

All in all, I thought we deserved to win the game. A very important three points."

Main photography by Brendan Harvey from Abbey Hulton United's narrow win away at Wythenshawe Amateurs.