Saturday 10th August 2024
NWCFL Premier Division
Matchday 3

West Didsbury & Chorlton 1
Holt 2
Burscough 2
Coughlan 45+2
McGrath 65

Attendance: 466

West line-up:
1 Martin, 2 Kenny, 3 Sutton, 4 McGonigle (16 Moore 49), 5 Cole, 6 Rowney (c), 7 Billingsley (12 Abadaki 57), 8 Murray, 9 Grimshaw (17 Webb 23), 10 Holt (14 Whiteoak 66), 11 Matthews (15 Lescott 66).

West suffered their first competitive defeat of the Paul Marshall reign last Saturday as they were beaten 1-2 at home to Burscough.

This fixture was of course a repeat of the previous weekend’s FA Cup tie between the sides at Brookburn Road, and it felt like a case of deja vu when West once again gave themselves the lead in front of the Rob Turley stand within 150 seconds of the kick-off. It was Kris Holt who opened the scoring this time with his first goal since returning to the club, and he did so by calmly volleying home from close range after being teed up by Billy Matthews.

Despite West’s quick start to the match, the remainder of the half passed largely without incident, with the exception of a Lee Grimshaw injury that brought his afternoon to a very premature end. He was replaced by Rhys Webb, and the similarities with the previous weekend’s FA Cup tie continued when the game’s second goal was scored in the dying embers of the first half. This time, however, it was the Linnets who were celebrating as they went in at the break after Matthew Coughlan brought them level in stoppage time with a wicked shot from 25 yards that swerved just beyond the reach of West ‘keeper Ollie Martin.

In truth, there was very little to capture the imagination when the teams did emerge for the second half. Paul Marshall’s post-match appraisal was that West “never really got going”, and as the match crept towards its latter stages, neither team seemed able to truly get a foothold in the match. That was until the 65th minute, when Burscough forward John McGrath received the ball on the edge of the West penalty area and drilled home the goal which proved to be the winner. West had very little to offer as the clock ran down and, although Victor Abadaki came closest to an equaliser when he could only prod a through ball into the feet of the onrushing goalkeeper with three minutes remaining, Burscough hung on to collect all three points.

Listen to Paul Marshall's post-match thoughts here:

Your Burton Road Brewing Co Supporter of the Match was Dom and his Player of the Match was Tom Murray.

Today’s @burtonrdbrewing Supporter of the Match is Dom and he chose Tom Murray as his Player of the Match pic.twitter.com/6lctIPUTSs

— West Didsbury & Chorlton (@WD_CFC) August 10, 2024

Photos by Nathan Ashmall

Weekend results
NWCFL Premier Division
Saturday 10th August 2024
Abbey Hey 2-2 AFC Liverpool
Barnoldswick Town 0-4 Chadderton
Bury 2-2 Irlam
Charnock Richard 4-2 Pilkington
FC Isle of Man 0-1 Longridge Town
FC St Helens 0-3 Ramsbottom United
Glossop North End 1-2 South Liverpool
Litherland REMYCA 2-4 Stockport Town
Lower Breck 4-1 Padiham
Prestwich Heys 1-1 Colne
Squires Gate 2-3 Cheadle Town