Dalton United 3 Euxton Villa 1

On a very heavy pitch which was a credit to the groundsman, considering the appalling weather we have had over the past 3 weeks, Euxton struggled to keep up with the conditions in the early stages.  The fact they were depleated by injuries, and players struggling with injuries on the pitch,should not detract from the fact that Dalton seemed to want the win more than the Villa.

This was shown in the 20th minute when a series of mis-kicks ended with Dalton taking the lead. Euxton tried to take the game to the home team, but again shot themselves in the foot in the 35th minute, when again the failure to clear the ball resulted in Dalton going into a 2-0 lead. Despite a mammoth performance in midfield from Paul Loughlin, even he couldn't stop Dalton adding a third, which meant that Villa faced a half time grilling from their esteemed leader.

    Euxton came out in the second half in a much better frame of mind and could have pulled a goal back with a modicum of luck, but it wasn't to be . Chambers came off in the 65th minute to be replaced by Guttridge, and although Euxton were now in control they could easily have conceded again when Dalton fluffed an easy opportunity, Atherton came on for under the weather Davies and Briggs replaced Lilley in the 75th minute . Euxton finally managed to break the deadlock when a strike on goal was deflected past the keeper by a Dalton player to give the score some respectability,

  Final score  Dalton Utd  3  Euxton Villa  1

With a couple of big semi-finals coming up, maybe Euxton have taken their eye off the ball ? A very dangerous thing to do !   Big game this weekend v Kirkham , then the Goldline Semi- Final, but I'm sure Sap can raise the team to new heights  ! !  Come on boys , cometh the hour and all that .  

Discuss this game in the Villa Room!!