This match was Prestwich’s third in the last four against teams at the top of Division 1 of the LAL and represented a chance for either team to go top with a win.
In keeping with this, the game started at a frenetic pace with Blackrod on the front foot and working hard to prevent Prestwich getting into their stride.
Prestwich were dealt a major blow when after 5 minutes a clash of heads saw Tom Gibson struggling and he had to be replaced after 13 minutes meaning Prestwich had then lost 3 centre halves available for the game. He was replaced by Paul Taylor who had turned up to watch but ended up on the bench!
Before Prestwich could fully readjust some excellent ball work by Blackrod in the box resulted in a supporting midfield player chipping over the advancing Mike Hudson to open the scoring on 15 minutes.
The rest of the half continued at a fast pace with Blackrod’s high intensity game denying Prestwich any real scoring opportunites and despite their continued sorties into the Prestwich half they had few chances themselves and Hudson had no real saves to make.
Prestwich made another change at half-time with David Thompson replacing a limping Chris Hopkins. It caused a slight change of shape in the Prestwich team which ultimately worked well.
The second half continued at a fast pace but after an hour the intensity of the Blackrod game fell off somewhat and Prestwich began to dominate possession and create chances. Steven Murty brought an outstanding save from the Blackrod keeper who palmed away a 30 yard effort that was heading for the top corner.
Paul Taylor had a header from a corner go just over the bar and Prestwich were building up a head of steam without getting the reward their play deserved.
Blackrod continued to be dangerous on the break with their quick forwards but the Prestwich defence snuffed out all their efforts. Prestwich eventually got their goal on 80 minutes when a ball was played in from the left, Sean Haslam allowed it to drop over his shoulder before striking a powerful volley into the net leaving the keeper rooted to the spot.
This was no more than they deserved and it set up a frantic last 10 minutes as both sides went for the win.
Hudson had to make his one serious save in this period and Prestwich also had chances to win but in the end a draw was probably a fair result but denied either side the top spot in Division 1.
Next week Prestwich travel to Castle Hill in Bolton for a 2.30pm KO.
