Lostock took on Premier League new comers New Farington House today in what proved to be another difficult game for the black and white army. The players were looking to carry on from last weeks win against Preston Town and keep their title hopes alive.

Tat and Tugs continued with the new formation of, 3-4-1-2. Walshy in net, same back 3 of Greeny, Bridgett and the big Russian Luke. Dash started on the left, with Alex the kid returning to the right. In the Middle were Dan McCarthy and Jamie with John in the hole. Up front were the deadly duo of Roddy and Jon "Gas Tank" Stead. Taking their places on the bench were Ben, Brendan and Dis. Johno, aka Ashley from Corrie, was missing due to his acting commitments and new signing Ross Melling was away on holiday with his massive signing on bonus!

The conditions were spot on for today’s match; however the pitch looked a little heavy in places. Greeny again lost the toss for kick off so Lostock started the match shooting down the slope. It was a sluggish start by Lostock, who allowed New Fari House to take control of the game. The opening chance of the match fell to the New Fari House striker, who turned sharply in the box and hit a smart volley that smashed off the bar then onto the post and was booted clear by the Lostock defence. Lostock did not heed the warning and the opposition took a deserved lead shortly after when their left winger sneaked into the box unnoticed and calmly slotted into the bottom corner. 0-1. With Lostock all over the place the management decided to resort back to the normal 4-4-2 formation, John moving to left midfield. This seemed to do the trick as Lostock started to come back into the game and it wasn’t long before we were level. A lovely through ball by Randell to RODDY, who then beat the offside trap and neatly slotted home made it 1-1. The game continued to be played at lightening pace and Lostock nearly took the lead from a New Fari House corner. The ball was whipped in and collected neatly by Walshy. He quickly released the ball to Dash who played the ball to Alex down the left hand side; the wee man played a lovely cross to the far post for the on-rushing Steady who smashed the ball off the bar. New Fari were struggling to cope especially with Roddy up front using his new found pace. Lostock finally took the lead on the half hour mark. Jamie won the ball in midfield with a crunching tackle, he then picked himself up and slotted a lovely ball to put Roddy clean through. Hot Rod was about to pull the trigger (no pun intended), when the New Fari House centre half Broomstick chopped the police horse down on the edge of the bo.x Red card for Broomstick and with the resulting free kick Lostock took the lead as STEADY cheekily curled the ball into the bottom right hand corner giving the keeper no chance 2-1. Lostock were in control for the rest of the half and nearly added to their tally when Steady again hit the bar after rounding the defence. The final chance of the half was Lostock hitting the woodwork again when Jamie “Freckles” Sanderson out jumped his bigger marker only to see his header hit the bar! The ref then decided to blow for half time, for some unknown reason whilst Roddy had just unleashed a smart chip, luckily for the ref it skimmed just over or there could have been from the Tardy Ultras of Pistol, Virg, Billy P, Lasher and their leader Slimfy!

At half time it was basically a clear message of don’t get lazy, maintain the pressure and get the game killed off with further goals. As Tat and Tugs were trying to get the message across the players decided to start arguing with each other. Eventually they calmed down and went out for the 2nd half determined to get the game wrapped up.

The 2nd half started with New Fari pressing and chasing the ball all over the park, obviously they hadn’t given the game up yet. The game seemed to be dragging along when bang, Curt the New Fari left back unleashed a 30 yard thunder bolt which flew into the top corner giving Walshy no chance whatsoever. 2-2. Over in the corner several Greenland’s players were seen jumping up and down celebrating the goal, this surely would fire the Lostock players up. Tat and Tugs decided to hook Dan Mac for Dis, Alex went back into centre mid, Roddy went to right mid and Dis went up front. It wasn’t too long for super sub Dizzee Rascal to get on the score sheet for the 2nd week running. Another “ISS Pro Evo” through ball from Randell sent Dis clear, though his first shot was smartly saved by the New Fari keeper, DAVID IAN SCARBOROUGH followed up the rebound like a good striker should do and slotted into the empty net. 3-2. Ben Yates then replaced Bridgett who was struggling with his groin, shoulder injuries and the fact that beer and food were being served in the Vic so Greeny moved to centre half with Ben going to right back. Shortly after Lostock made the game safe with STEADY getting his brace. A corner form the right by Roddy looked to be heading for Luke “Vidic’s” 16 stone head, but old "hair gel" himself got up just before Luke to head home and claim the points for Lostock. 4-2. Steady then made way for Brendan “Eusebio” Kimmins. With the clock ticking Lostock kept hold of the ball and all New Fari efforts were from long distance and weren’t going to harm anyone….unless Johnson was hitting 1 again!

A rather poor performance from Lostock today, it seemed the players just assumed they would win by simply just turning up. New Fari House were a lot better than expected and will be disappointed with the result. However, 3pts without getting out of 1st gear will do nicely. Players will have to pull their fingers out in order to retain their places with some big games around the corner. Jamie "Jimmy Grimble" Sanderson was later named Man of the Match by the club committee for an outstanding game in the middle of the park. Jamie has been an unsung hero this season and is hopefully back to his best. He celebrated back his free drink back at the "Palace" with the other A Team members.

PS - well done to Randell, Dashti and John Sanderson for being selected for the League rep team for the upcoming game against Blackpool. God only knows why Steady, Roddy and Luke didn’t also get picked!!! In FACT, only 1 person out of the Top 10 Prem goalscorers list got a look in???

SCORERS:
Sean Roddy (18 mins)
John Stead (30 mins)
Dave Scarborough (64 mins)
John Stead (78 mins)

MOM:
Jamie Sanderson