Saturday 17 March 2018

Ashley, Affleck (Ivone 65), Tinker (c), Eislet, Bayunu, Mason, Steer (Dickenson 33), Sergeant, Bailey, Whyment (Slaven 57), Woods
Unused substitutions: Shaw

On a day when the weather looked like it would be the most important factor in the final result, West made sure that they could have no such excuses as they slumped to a 6-1 defeat at Padiham.

Coming into the game on a good run of form, and with the chance to jump to the safety of mid-table with a win, West made hard work of it from the off, letting Spencer Jordan through to slip home after 4 minutes. It could’ve been a lot more before they were to add a second if it were not for Aaron Ashley, who made a series of saves when a goal looked the most likely result. However, Jordan would double his tally before the interval. Playing into the wind, clearing the ball had been a difficulty for the entire opening spell – but when Padiham won a header deep into the West half from a free-kick that had been repelled back towards goal by the gales, Jordan was put and would not be denied again.

Between the two goals, West had a few chances of their own on the counter – but had been unable to truly make the keeper work, being dispossessed before getting a shot away or having a home defender make a clearance. They would rue those missed opportunities after the break.

In the space of 25 minutes, West were to go from being in the contest to being at the end of a thumping. Manager Steve Settle would apologise for the result later on Twitter, stating: “The only positive from that performance is that we can’t possibly be that bad again…apologies to everyone connected to our club.” To go over each of the goals again here would be an exercise in futility, but simply put – the home side made sure to take advantage of the opportunities that West presented to them, scoring a series of simple efforts: each goal doing little to blunt their ruthless edge.

At the death, West were to score a consolation – a Bailey free kick from deep converted home from the edge of the six yard box by Ash Woods, but by that time the game had long since gone. The full time whistle went as soon as the resulting kick off was taken, and West must immediately put the game behind them to focus on Tuesday’s visit of AFC Liverpool to Brookburn Road.