Briggs

This highly charged local derby was played with total commitment from both sides ,but always within the correct spirit of the game.

Villa again played good short passing football combined with good running off the ball, and were soon causing the visitors problems down both wings , after 3 minutes a precise through ball from Adrian Briggs almost put Liam Conway in on goal , and while much of the early part of the match was contested in midfield it was Villa who had the better chances , on 15 minutes a great overlapping run by Craig Chambers resulted in his cross causing problems for the Charnock defence. Five minutes later Villa almost took the lead when Adrian Briggs rose unchallenged in the box only to see his header flash wide of the post.

The visitors also had chances, on 22 minutes they also came close to scoring with a shot just over the bar , Villa continued to create chances and on the half-hour John Salisbury came close with a header from a Guy Clarkson free kick , five minutes later Guy Clarkson almost scored from another free kick , with John Salisbury following up and just failing to turn the ball in.

The second half started with Villa increasing the pressure on the visitors and on 48 minutes John Salisbury hit a low ball across the face of goal following good work by Liam Conway , on 55 minutes John Salisbury again caused the visitors defence problems with a run into the box , at this point you felt it would only be a matter of time before Villa eventually found the net.

On the hour Guy Clarkson came close following a low ball into the penalty area from Liam Conway, three minutes later a great shot from Sean Parkin caused the Charnock defence problems and Adrian Briggs following up saw his shot hit the inside of the post and rebound to safety , and so it continued , two minutes later Lee Chambers came close heading just over the bar , the breakthrough came on seventy minutes when following a dangerous cross from John Salisbury the ball was won in the box by Liam Conway who in turn managed to find Adrian Briggs who hit the ball into the net.

The visitors tried to rally and the Villa defence had to be vigilant with James O' Loughlin saving his side with a header off the line , the home side were now starting to catch the visitors on the break and in the last ten minutes both Damien Stewart and Liam Conway came close to getting a second goal , but in the end it was a fair result given the number of chances Euxton created throughout the game. It would be unfair to single out any one player for man of the match as this was a total team performance from start to finish , as Villa begin to adapt to life in their new division.

Team - Johnston, C.Chambers, Walker , O' Loughlin , Baker , (L. Chambers ) Conway, Parkin, Bradshaw, Salisbury, Clarkson, (Stewart) Briggs (Crombie )