Winsford Utd 1

Worksop Town 3

UniBond Premier

Saturday, October 30

SEASONS are often summed up in a matter of minutes and it was the 64th of this match which provided the latest page in Winsford's catalogue of disaster.

If new boy Simon Turpin had headed in Paul Wheeler's free-kick from six yards, there would surely have been no way back for the visitors from 2-0 down.

As it was, the resultant goal kick set Mick Goddard away down the right and his cross was headed past his own keeper by Anthony Hughes.

And as so often this season, one goal has been enough to knock Winsford off their stride. They failed to keep pace with a Worksop team buzzing with the knowledge that their luck was in.

Two minutes later, Goddard went on to score the second without the help of a defender. Outstanding veteran Kenny Clarke laid the ball off to him and he unleashed a left foot screamer which tore into Chris Knowles' top right hand corner.

If the game wasn't over by this stage it certainly was on 72 minutes when Turpin was carried off and United's defence, solid and assured for so much of the game, was left in shreds.

It has to be said that Winsford offered little in attack throughout the match, but scored an excellent goal to take the lead on 14 minutes.

Teenager Gareth Chadwick somehow found room by the right touchline to whip in a great cross which Lee Harley gloriously swept in on the volley.

Keeping a 1-0 lead isn't something United could offer a masterclass on this season, but when it lasted to half-time the signs were encouraging.

However, Worksop came out looking ever more threatening in the second half, none more so than when Richard Mason's free-kick bounced off the top of the bar.

Knowles then had to react quickly to his own poor punch to smother Ryan Ludlam's close range effort.

Even Clarke, a prolific non-league goal machine, was having trouble finding his range as Knowles dived to hold his 20-yard drive on the hour.

However, once Hughes had the misfortune to put Town back in the game it was all downhill. Chadwick headed a Mark Powell cross inches wide, but the push for an equalizer was always more likely to produce a clinching third for the visitors.

Goddard duly got it, beating the offside trap to round Knowles and score his second.

Winsford: Knowles, Rushton, Coathup, Hughes, Turpin (Brindley 72), Wheeler, Harley, Powell (Bailey 71), Chadwick, Hawkes (Higginbotham 45), Wallace.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.