Thursday 26th December 2019, NWCFL First Division South

West 0 
Maine Road 3 (Coop 11, 27, Campbell 74)
Att: 392

West fell to an abysmal derby defeat as Maine Road helped themselves to South Manchester bragging rights.

On a Boxing Day afternoon to forget, the visitors cruised into a two-goal lead inside half an hour thanks to Jack Coop’s brace. Oscar Campbell added the gloss with 16 minutes remaining, with former West man Conrad Betton effectively a spectator in the visitors’ goal.

Callum Jones shot straight at Betton inside the first five minutes, but on a murky Chorlton afternoon this proved to be a false dawn. The visitors quickly assumed control and Coop opened the scoring after 11 minutes, outpacing the West defence and rounding Andrew Jones to finish easily.

The clinical Coop added his and the visitors’ second just before the half-hour mark in similar circumstances – again he was afforded space in the West final third, but on this occasion he opted to go over Jones instead of round and the ball dropped over the line to double Road’s advantage.

West’s response after the break was desultory at best as the visitors simply chose their moment to add a third – it was the 74th minute, when Oscar Campbell was at the end of a move down the right and he buried his shot inside the near post.

Betton was finally called into meaningful action in the 91st minute when Curtis Miller had a fierce drive tipped over, but the derby had long since been decided and West move on to Saturday’s trip to St Martins in dire need of improvement.

West: A. Jones, Cook, Tinker, C. Jones, Heathcote, Middleton, Miller, Moloney (Matthews 81), Hall (Swift 83), Boland, Blackwell. Not used: Eckersley, Newns, Cooper.