Draw specialists Villa were at it again, two goals up and with the opposition at their mercy like a rabbit in the headlights, they contrived to allow them back in the game via a rash challenge in the box. From then on Charnock were revitalised, and whilst the home side were not exactly hanging on, few were surprised when the inevitable equaliser came, and in the end a draw was probably no more than they deserved, though once again it was a case of ‘If only…’.

Villa started much the brighter, and had a couple of efforts from Matt Atherton and Ryan Lilley inside the first five minutes. Charnock settled however and had ten minutes or so of ascendancy during which it was they who were the more creative going forward, but the final ball lacked the quality necessary to set up anything meaningful.

Then in the sixteenth minute came the move of the match Lilley gathered the ball at pace down the right, beat Kerr all ends up and delivered a killer ball round the back, where it was met by the perfectly timed run of Elliot Dunn, and Baldwin was given no chance with his clinical finish.

As one would expect with such a keenly anticipated local derby, passion rather than pretty passing was the orders of the day, and for the remainder of the half it was end to end, but with a paucity of quality. The visitors very nearly grabbed one in stoppage time that would have sent them in level, but although the ball across from King was deadly, no-one was able to get the necessary touch to divert it goalward. 

Villa were again quicker out of the traps in the second half, and Dunn nearly grabbed a second with an angled shot that had Baldwin scrambling, but just shaved the wrong side of the post. , In David Heald Villa looked to have the weapon to undo the visitors, and right on the hour, substitute Duckworth brought  him down just inside the box. Sam Bolton stepped up and fired the resultant penalty high into the rigging. 

Charnock looked a beaten side now, and Atherton should have sealed it when he got a free header on a pinpoint cross from Adam McAlister, but he headed straight into the hands of a much relieved keeper. 

Then, out of the blue, a coming together in the box between Bolton and Hayton had the ref pointing to the spot, and Randall accepted the invitation to throw his colleagues a life-line.   Recent history being as it is, one could sense the Euxton players getting ever more nervy, dropping deeper and deeper in the process. Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Grimshaw saw a speculative shot come back off the bar, and fortunately for the men in green, it fell at the feet of King for a tap-in.

Things became a bit frantic thereafter with Charnock riding the wave of euphoria, and Villa trying to undo the mess they had created for themselves. The referee was coming under ever increasing pressure from the visitors’ dugout, and did well to retain his composure. Even so, Charnock had Dashti sent for a second yellow, and the manager was asked to leave the playing area, followed shortly after by his assistant. Fortunately common sense returned, and in the end, though neither side were happy with the point, it was probably the right result.

The league table tells it’s own story. Charnock have lost the same number of games, yet they still top the table, whilst Villa are just a couple of points off the bottom.  They have conceded twenty, Villa only fifteen, but they have scored twenty nine to Villas fourteen, and six of those were in one match!  Enough said?

Villa Line-up: Shaun Gibbs, Adam McAlister, Darren Davies, Lee Chambers, Sam Bolton (Tom Whittaker 84) Ross Dickinson, Matt Conway (Stuart Bingham 80), Elliot Dunn (Paul Kirkby 88), Matt Atherton, David Heald, Ryan Lilley