Ladybridge welcomed Prestwich Town to their first home league fixture of the season on a cold bright blustery day. Ladybridge were missing Ollie through injury today but welcomed a new addition to the squad in James who started on the bench along with Patrick and Nat. Ladybridge started the half with the wind and sun behind them which helped them establish a good solid start to the game. Cole was looking lively down the wing and it was a cross from him that handed Josh an early chance that he pushed just wide of the keepers right hand post. Ladybridge enjoyed the majority of possession and territory early on and this resulted in the home team scoring their first goal after a terrific run by Josh who found Taylor who passed on to Dion who then crossed for Cole to score the first goal. 1-0 Ladybridge. Dion had to leave the pitch shortly after the goal with a niggling injury and was replaced by Nat. The visitors first effort on goal was through their most impressive player the No 6 who shot just wide of Conor's right hand post after 15 mins. The wind really was cutting through both teams and made conditions very difficult but Ladybridge managed to find the net again as Cole won back the ball after losing it, showing great determination and crossing for James to slot past their keeper. 2-0.
The third goal was scored pretty much from the restart were Cole's run and cross wide found Taylor in space and he unselfishly set up Josh who smashed the ball high into the goal courtesy of the underside of the bar to go into Half Time 3-0.
Ladybridge enjoyed the greater possession and territory throughout the half but we were enjoying playing with the elements so the 2nd half would be a real test playing against them. Matt was replaced by Patrick in defence and James Y making his debut replaced Josh up front. Our visitors started the half well and they pulled a goal back through some tidy midfield play and a break that found their No 6 25 yards out and he lashed an unstoppable drive low and to the right of a diving Conor in the net to make it 3-1.
Their No 6 nearly added another goal for his team during their best spell of the game but his shot from a free kick went just wide. This however was the last meaningful pressure of the game from Prestwich and Ladybridge's fourth goal came from a smashing passing movement that started with Cole on the left finding Ben who played a 1-2 with James before he passed the ball on to Taylor who ran through on goal to score past their keeper to make it 4-1.
Our fifth was created by Cole whose cross found Taylor in the box who nodded the ball down to a grateful James who squeezed the ball home. 5-1
We managed two more goals before the final whistle, the sixth was scored by our busy winger Cole and our seventh came from the debut boy James Y with a lovely effort that looped over their keeper to make the final result 7-1 to Ladybridge.
The Ref handled the game well this afternoon and he succeeded in encouraging a free flowing game of football in very difficult and trying weather conditions.
I thought our visitors, Prestwich Town, today acquitted themselves extremely well and their No 6 in particular was their stand out player going forward. Their goalkeeper also deserves a special mention as he was much better than the score-line suggests. He made some excellent saves and blocks throughout the game to keep the score-line down.
Our overall team effort today was superb and the commitment shown by all the players in battling for every ball was very pleasing to watch - long may it continue and well done lads!
Our next fixture looks like a real challenge in the Quarter Finals of the LFA Cup away against Bare Rangers of Lancaster next Sunday.
