Lostock were up against lower league opposition Penwortham Sports in this Challenge Cup 2nd Round tie. The management handed a debut to new signing Alex Randell, who decided to join us from league rivals Victoria because he wasn’t keen on the Vic lads’ after-match shower room antics. Lostock lined up with Moffatt in goals, Greeny, Baldwin, Bridgett and Atherton in defence, Roddy, Randell, Jamie Sanderson and Ben Yates in midfield along with Stead and John Sanderson up front.

The game started at a furious pace with Lostock attacking their opponents from all over the pitch. New signing Alex Randell along with the tireless legs of Jamie and Ben in midfield were proving far too strong for Penny Sports. It wasn’t too long into the game before Sean Roddy found himself in acres of space on the right hand side and he delivered a great centre for STEAD to make it 1-0. Whilst the Lostock Faithful were celebrating the goal on the sidelines it was 2-0 when JOHN SANDERSON finished off a move involving Stead and Randell. 10 minutes later and BEN YATES scored his 1st goal for the club by finishing well at the back post 3-0. The 4th came from the penalty spot with STEAD duly dispatching the spot kick making it 4-0 and proving that Lostock were completely dominating the game.

The 2nd half kicked off and Lostock carried on exactly how they’d finished the first 45 minutes with crisp passing and keeping possession. Penny Sports struggled to get into the game at all and this enabled Lostock to make it 5-0 with STEAD getting his hat trick and the match ball to keep! With victory secure, Lostock made some changes with Player Manager Tat, Chris (Belly) Hornby and the ever-reliable Kebab entering the fray. Lostock were now laid the challenge of keeping a clean sheet and getting a pint each off the gaffers for doing so. The 6th wasn’t long in coming as JOHN SANDERSON picked the ball up on the right hand side, beat 2 players and scooped the ball over the keepers head from the 18 yard box to make it 6-0. Lostock were now passing the ball around comfortably, just like a training session, finding space in wide areas and working hard to keep the pace of the game going. With Belly taking up his usual stance on the left hand side in his own “personal” wide area, he put in a great ball for STEAD to make it 7-0. With the game won, the opponent’s heads were dragging but Lostock still weren’t done. A good passing move was poorly cleared to just outside the box which JOHN SANDERSON latched onto and smashed the ball home to make it 8-0.

As the referee blew for full time it was smiles all round the Lostock camp as we scored goals, kept a clean sheet and the new management team kept their unbeaten run going. Man of the Match went to new signing Alex Randell who had a cracking game on his debut for the club. Hopefully we can retain the Challenge Cup with more impressive displays like this one!

SCORERS:
John Stead (11 min)
John Sanderson (12 min)
Ben Yates (22 min)
John Stead (36 min)
John Stead (53 min)
John Sanderson (68 min)
John Stead (74 min)
John Sanderson (88 min)

MOM:
Alex Randell