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United overcome Bacup

FC United headed up to the East Lancashire hills and came back down with all three points after a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Bacup Borough thanks to goals from Rory Patterson and Stuart Rudd.

With the quaint Brian Boy’s Stadium basking in sunshine, the Reds made a bright start but they had to come from a goal down to beat the boys from Bacup.

Margy’s men were denied an early lead when Patterson, after a lovely though-ball by Shaun Roscoe, was brought down by the home ‘keeper Billy Carrington for a stonewall penalty.

The Bacup ‘keeper somehow avoided a card of any colour and then added insult to injury by saving Rudd’s weak spot kick.

The referee Mr Rose didn’t seem to give United much throughout the game and he upset manger Karl Marginson by awarding Bacup a penalty of their own after an innocuous challenge in the Red’s area.

Striker Stuart Shepherd showed how it should be done to give the home side an unexpected lead.

A physical first half saw Nugent replaced after a nasty head injury and from the resulting free kick FC found an equaliser of breathtaking quality.

The ball was floated over to Rory Patterson who had his back to goal on the edge of the box. The young Irishman hit a first time left footed bicycle kick into the top corner, leaving the ’keeper with no chance.

United then took the lead with just a minute left in the first-half. The impressive Jerome Wright beat his marker down the left to fire a wicked cross into the box and allow Rudd to steer the ball home.

Bacup’s defence stood strong in the second-half as the Reds looked to increase their lead. But the home side failed to find a cutting edge of their own and in the end the one goal advantage was more than enough for United.

Mark Swanwick


Team information:

Bacup Borough
1. B Carrington
2. T Hayes
3. M Cross (capt)
4. L Anderson
5. S Cryer
6. J Borg
7. L Oldham
8. L Kershaw
9. I Barker
10. S Shepherd
11. S Myerscough
Subs
12. B Herbert (for 7, 48)
13.
14. D Repuilo (for 5, 26)
15. C Rezia (for 10, 71)

Scorer: Shepherd 28 (pen)

FC United
1. S Ashton
2. L Foster
3. S Roscoe
4. S Spencer
5. D Chadwick (capt)
6. R Nugent
7. D Swarbrick
8. J Howard
9. S Rudd
10. J Wright
11. R Patterson
Subs
12. R Giggs (for 7, 83)
14. S Carden (for 8, 67)
15. D Brown (for 6, 33)

Scorers: Patterson 33, Rudd 43


First Posted ~ 13:27 Mon 5 Feb 2007
News ID ~ 824
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021