Prestwich again put in another convincing and dominating performance against a hard working but somewhat disjointed Radcliffe team.
While Prestwich had the bulk of possession and pressed forward at every opportunity Radcliffe had pace up front and did provide the Prestwich defence with some scary moments. Mike Hudson was forced into 2 good saves at the start of the second half and a couple of timely defensive clearances relieved the brief periods of Radcliffe pressure.
The game started with Prestwich playing some great football and carving out chances but it wasn’t until the 17th minute when Darren Buckley finished off a fine right wing move by converting a Haslam cut back. Seven minutes later a similarly incisive move resulted in Steven Murty cutting in from the left wing to create space to slot home the second.
Radcliffe did get forward when they could but never seriously threatened the Prestwich goal. Following another period of sustained pressure Prestwich added a third when Liam Burke overlapped down the left and produced the perfect cross for Martin Hill to steer the ball into the bottom corner in the 42 minute.
The second half started in similar fashion but some wayward passing did result in several chances for Radcliffe on the break which Hudson and the defence managed to deal with effectively. Prestwich soon got back on track and a swift move saw a Buckley run into the box unceremoniously stopped by a clear foul. Murty stepped up to dispatch the resulting penalty into the bottom corner on 55 minutes.
Shortly after a flurry of substitutions by Prestwich saw Hart, Thompson and Prieto replace Holden, Neary and Buckley and after a brief period of settling down Prestwich continued to create chance after chance without adding to the score.
As Radcliffe tired towards the end of the half the hard working Sean Haslam helped himself to 2 late goals, firstly converting an astute Hill pass into the box in the 88 minute and then latching onto a wayward defensive pass to round the keeper and score with literally the last kick of the match.
This result keeps Prestwich at the top of the table but Roach Dynamos are a close second with games in hand.
