12^th April 2023, City of Liverpool FC v Runcorn Linnets FC : 1-1

Linnets made the short trip to Berry Street Garage Stadium for a fourth visit of the season, knowing that six points from three remaining league games would ensure a place in the play-offs for promotion to the Pitching In NPL Premier Division. 

With the game having postponed from Easter Monday, due to a waterlogged pitch, tension had mounted for an additional two days.

Despite more rain throughout the intervening 48 hours, miracle work by Bootle's ground staff, perhaps assisted by a fierce wind blowing diagonally down the slope, ensured that the game went ahead on a perfectly firm, dry surface. 

Linnets were encouraged in the prospect of securing half of the required points target, by having triumphed on each of the previous three visits to the BSG.

Runcorn had knocked ground sharers City of Liverpool and Bootle out of the Liverpool Senior Cup there, on their way to the forthcoming final, and the penalty shoot-out semi-final win against Bootle came ten days after a 3-2 comeback victory over the same opponents in the league.

But the opportunity to take Runcorn to within a single win of their play-off goal was not taken, and manager Billy Paynter was to declare himself frustrated and very disappointed with a 'below par' performance.

He felt particularly let down by a lack of bite up front, which was characterised by a point being secured in the dying seconds of added time, the equaliser being made by one centre-back and converted by another. 

If there was an excuse for a scrappy and disjointed first half Linnets performance, it might have lain in the fact that the blustery wind made passing to feet and control of the ball tricky, on a remarkably hard surface. That said, City of Liverpool looked far more threatening going forward with the wind behind them, after the break.

A scruffy opening few minutes saw no more incident than a corner to each side, both of which were defended, and early injury to Max Allen, prompting his replacement by Karl Clair.

It was in the eighth minute that a promising crossfield Linnets move between Lewis Doyle and Ryan Brooke set up a Jamal Crawford run and cross, that Jack Hont did well to block and clear.

A great solo run by Crawford delivered the ball into the home area, where Tom Moore had two shots blocked. The resulting corner was wasted, after being played backwards and intercepted.  Linnets were building a promising period of attacking possession, but it was a false dawn, and they were to threaten little else until the closing ten minutes of the first half.

Approaching the 15-minute mark, frantic blocks were made by Ally Brown, Sam Heathcote and Sean O'Mahony, as City of Liverpool mounted a determined attacking flurry. 

Several unexplained delays were keeping everybody cold, and didn't encourage a feast of free-flowing football.  

The first shot near either target came in the 24th minute, when Danny Taberner stopped a speculative effort by Jack Hazlehurst. The Purps dominated possession for a good ten minutes, but that long shot was the only significant product, as the Linnets defence held strong.

There was a glimpse of Runcorn looking like the team who were chasing promotion, when Nick Ryan did very well to beat Ryan Brooke to the ball by a fraction of a second, as Brooky aimed to convert a great 'one-two' cross by James Short.

Ollie McFadyen made swift inroads into the area from the left and drew an excellent save from Barnes, with Ryan and Grogan blocking follow-up shots by Lewis Doyle and Tom Moore.

Louis Hayes joined the attack when he intercepted a weak backpass to the 'keeper, feinted wide and shot, but only into the side netting.

Linnets did not see out the first half in the ascendancy, though. 

Ishmael Sonko had been CoLFC's biggest threat throughout the first half, and he continued to be a handful for James Short and Sean O'Mahony, who found him quick on the ball and very hard to dispossess.

Two corners were cleared, to spark another Linnets attack up the right, at the feet of Jamal Crawford, but it was to be his last of the night. He sustained an injury when tackled inside the goal line, and was replaced by Raheem Hanley.  

Former NCWFL title winner with Linnets, Michael Simpson, received a yellow card for a nasty high challenge on Shorty to prevent his sprint into the Purps half. It was the final incident of the first half.

Playing towards the more sheltered top end of the ground after the break, Linnets looked like they might begin to take more control, but as Billy Paynter observed afterwards, they were playing very square, and passes across the opposition half from either wing too often failed to gain territory, or to result in scoring chances. 

The City of Liverpool defence was given too little to keep out, and they and the midfield in purple were consistently winning loose balls and 50/50 challenges. 

Linnets were not exploiting the channels to set up productive crosses in the way that has served them so well through the season. One each, among very few, by McFadyen and Hanley, both flew too close to the 'keeper.

Ten minutes into the half, Cameron Rooney was introduced, in place of Louis Hayes, to add weight to the thus-far sketchy attacking threat.

Runcorn corners were won on either side, but while that does suggest a team on the attack, it also portrays consistent failure to get the better of the opposing defence.

That was accentuated by the majority of balls into the area being met first by the heads and boots of Ryan and Grogan in the middle of the area.

City of Liverpool began to exploit the diagonal downhill wind to greater effect than Linnets had done in the first half. One of the best opportunities so far fell to Danny Mitchley, from Hazlehurst's break from his own half and long ball ahead into the area. Fortunately for the stranded Linnets defence, Mitchley sliced his shot well wide.

There was no shortage of Runcorn effort to find a breakthrough at the other end, and Lewis Doyle and Cam Rooney were centrally involved in most of it, but Linnets forward players continued to be strung laterally across the pitch, enabling the home defence to resist them in the form of a purple wall.

Attempts to break through were limited to individual efforts to take men on, most notably by Rooney and Brooke, and then by Matty Birchall, who came on in place of Ollie McFadyen after 67 minutes.

They would make it past one man, and maybe two, but a third was a tall order. 

CoLFC defenders were not being pulled in different directions by passing moves or through balls, and they were finding it too easy to block and clear, or concede corners that were in turn well defended.

Kenny Strickland joined the fray for the last 20 minutes, in place of Michael Simpson.

Neither side looked in any way happy to settle for a point, and both showed urgency to get forward, but increasing groans of frustration from the Linnets fans reflected the fact that their team was repeatedly missing out on loose balls, and failing to make contact with a second pass at a time.  

There was far more disappointment than surprise, therefore, when CoLFC went ahead, with 15 minutes remaining.

Half a dozen corners and throw-ins at the bottom end of the pitch had resulted from five minutes or more of massed Runcorn defending, but it was on the break from a rarer Linnets attack that the Purps took the initiative.

Ryan Brooke appeared to have been fouled as he lost out in a head-on challenge with Jack Hazelhurst, but the referee didn't agree, and the diminutive but combative CoLFC No.10 made 30 yards into the Runcorn area and shot long.

That was repelled, but Karl Clair picked up the loose ball and shot from well outside the area. 

Tabs got a hand to it, but he was well off his line, and the ball looped high over O'Mahony and Brown, and found its way into the left corner of the net. It had, as they say, been coming.

Hazlehurst had two more attempts on goal from distance, within the next two or three minutes. The first flew high, and the second lacked the power to trouble Tabs.

Linnets returned to the offensive for the first time in some minutes, but it was still restricted to largely solo efforts.

Sam Heathcote shot high from 25 yards, and a Ryan Brooke header from Matty Birchall's cross from the left was on target, but Grogan was positioned squarely behind it.

The clock was running down, and CoLFC now had far less cause for urgency. They took almost two minutes to execute a corner from the right, and another minute to take a throw-in which followed it.

When they subsequently conceded a goal-kick, Michael Grogan was cautioned for kicking the ball away towards the far corner flag. Linnets fans were irate at the time wasting, but their side were not blameless for the fact that the Purps had a lead to defend. 

A minute previously, Grogan had clearly used a hand to divert Lewis Doyle's cross for a corner, but the rest of him shielded the act from the referee, who couldn't take the away fans' word for it.

Normal time had expired when an attacking exchange between Brooky and Shorty on the left was finally repelled, and Tom Moore had a long shot gathered safely by Barnes.

With three minutes of added time running into a fourth, Sean O'Mahony took possession inside the Purps' half, and played a precise ball forward into the area, ahead of Sam Heathcote.

Sam looked less like a centre-half and more like someone who remarkably scored 30 goals for West Didsbury & Chorlton last season from defence, when he fainted past Wylie and Grogan, drew Barnes off his line, and slotted home a perfectly-timed shot into the bottom right corner.

There was barely time to kick off again before the referee brought proceedings to a close. 

The Linnets players showed their appreciation for the unflagging support of their fans behind the goal, which had helped to drive them on to grab that late equaliser.

First impressions were that the single point would make little difference to the run-in for the play-offs, with two victories still required.

But a quick rifle through the mental ready reckoner revealed that it could in fact make a vital difference in keeping Linnets clear of the chasing two. 

A Runcorn victory in Saturday's final home game against already-relegated Ramsbottom United, would leave Witton Albion or Mossley having to win both of their last two games to overhaul them, while hoping that Linnets lose their final game at Trafford.

Ironically, both Albion and Mossley are still to play City of Liverpool.

Runcorn Linnets: Danny Taberner, Ally Brown, James Short, Tom Moore, Sean O'Mahony, Sam Heathcote, Ollie McFadyen (Matty Birtchall, 67 mins), Louis Hayes (Cameron Rooney, 55 mins), Ryan Brooke, Lewis Doyle, (Jamal Crawford, 44 mins).  Subs (not used): Eden Gumbs, Josh Elverstone. 

Attendance: 322

NB. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Runcorn Linnets FC or its Board.