A lacklustre performance saw Prestwich comfortably beaten by a Blackrod side that have been uncharacteristically struggling themselves recently.
Prestwich started reasonably well although it was clear from very early on Blackrod had the most influential player on the pitch in the form of their bald centre forward who seemed to threaten every time he got the ball which he did frequently.
Having survived a couple of early scares Prestwich carved out a few chances of their own, Sean Haslam having to be crudely fouled having cleverly rolled what appeared to be last man, and David Prieto skewing a shot wide from close range having done the hard work to make the space. Martin Hill was also unlucky with a cracking run and shot that just sailed wide.
As the half progressed though Prestwich struggled more and more to keep the ball, every time a Blackrod attack was broken down it seemed to be a matter of time before Blackrod won the ball back to launch again.
It looked like Blackrod would take a deserved lead on 20 mins with a dubiously awarded penalty but Mike Hudson one of the few Prestwich players to emerge from this game with his stock intact made an astonishing save, diving low to his right to save what was a powerfully struck shot low and hard towards the bottom left corner.
The respite was short lived, minutes later left back John Robertson’s carless pass went straight to a Blackrod player, with Prestwich’s defence high and square he fed it instantly to a striker who had an unobstructed path to goal to stroke it past Hudson.
With Blackrod now first to every loose ball Prestwich were under the cosh and five minutes later conceded a second, they just manged to make it half time without suffering further damage.
To their credit Prestwich made a real go of it in the second period but the damage had already been done and as they committed men further forward in search of a goal Blackrod were able to regularly pick them off on the counter always on the lookout to release that number nine.
Having survived several near misses Prestwich conceded two more in the 63rd and 70th minutes whilst the nearest they came to scoring was from a fantastic run and precision cross from down the right by Martin Hill that was just crying out for someone to attack it, and a powerful low drive by Mike Neary which brought a good save from the Blackrod keeper, unfortunately the only one of any note he’d had to make.
It was a bad day at the office for the Prestwich boys, for the first time this season they simply didn’t seem to want it as much as their opponents and with unbeaten leaders Old Boltonians coming to Hopwood this week they will need to be on it individually and collectively, but having ended Rossendale’s unbeaten run recently a result is not beyond them.
