Prestwich returned to league business with what was expected to be a difficult game at Old Mancunians, and so it proved to be.
The game started with Mancs largely on the front foot and pegging their visitors back but without creating any serious chances. Prestwich were finding it hard to get their passing game going with too much unforced loss of possession, in contrast to Mancs who were retaining possession much more effectively.
Then Prestwich were dealt a double blow when on 24 minutes, with their first meaningful shot at goal, the home team took the lead when the ball fell to the feet of a forward and he rifled an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net.
Immediately after the goal Prestwich lost Martin Hill with a knee injury who was replaced by Michael Neary returning after being out for five weeks.
Prestwich responded and the game ebbed and flowed with no clear cut chances falling to either side until Aldair Victorano brought an excellent save from the Mancs keeper with a rasping drive from the edge of the box. The half closed with Prestwich 1-0 down but well in the game.
The second half started as the first with Mancs keeping the ball better and putting pressure on the Prestwich defence culminating in a second goal on 51 minutes when a cross from the right was headed back into the box and after a minor scramble fell to a Mancs player for a tap in.
Prestwich pushed forward searching for a way back into the game and increasingly Andrew Dean was causing the Mancs defence problems with penetrating runs down the left wing, several of his balls into the box causing havoc but never finding quite the right players or spaces.
The game was effectively ended when a lightening break by Mancs on 64 minutes found the Prestwich defence light on numbers and the right winger drilled a shot under the unlucky Michael Hudson who got a foot to the ball but it trickled under him into the net for 3-0.
To their credit Prestwich kept plugging away and Sean Haslam was unlucky when put through to see his goalbound shot deflected over the bar from a last ditch tackle.
Prestwich were later guilty of wasting 2 good free kick opportunities by getting neither anywhere near the target. With Prestwich pushing forward Mancs did have chances to extend their lead but wasted several with poor finishing.
As the game neared its close another attack down the left ended in Victorano taking the ball past a couple of defenders on the edge of the box and driving the ball into the bottom corner of the net off a post.
A minute later another excellent run by Dean down the left saw Haslam get on the end of his cross to glance the ball just past the post. Earlier Haslam had also brought a super save from the Mancs keeper when he got to the ball as it headed for the top corner.
Overall it was a case of too little too late for Prestwich but with a little bit of luck it could have been a different story. In the end though the best team on the day won and continued their record of having the better of games between the two sides.
Next up for Prestwich is a home game against Rossendale FC who are currently second in the table with a 100% league record thus far so another testing challenge awaits.
