A DRAMATIC second half turnaround saw Great Harwood snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Victoria Park in NWCL Division Two.

In front of a packed Victoria Park crowd, a thrilling derby encounter looked

destined to go the home side's way as they held a two-goal advantage for

close on an hour.

Nelson took the lead with a Paul Sconce piledriver from 35 yards into the top corner of the Harwood net after 16 minutes and the home side grew in confidence creating a series of first half chances.

Paddy Connelly shrugged off the attentions of Harwood defender Ryan Parr before laying on a perfect cross for Andy Haworth to score at the far post with an easy finish to double Nelson's lead after 38 minutes.

With the game seemingly over at half time, Harwood's manager John Hughes turned his side from a shambles into a more organised outfit and, with the introduction of 16-year-old substitute Matt Derbyshire, they began to threaten the home defence.

On the hour Richard Fogarty pulled one back for Harwood after Derbyshire had opened up the Nelson defence and the alarm bells were ringing for the Blues with keeper Billy Carrington being forced to make some vital saves.

With Ryan Parr leading by example, Town began to dominate and John Eastham levelled the scores at 2-2 after 73 minutes when he rose at the far post from a corner kick to power a header into the Nelson net and with the game in the balance both sides went for the winner.

For a while Nelson threatened to make the breakthrough but Scott Bradley and Paddy Connelly found the marking tighter than before and it was Harwood's Andy Taylor who made the killer pass to break the deadlock.

His high cross from the left wing found John Eastham's head at the near post and Eastham's header gave Billy Carrington no chance as he clinched the points with the winning goal for Harwood.

Great Harwood manager John Hughes said: "In many ways Nelson should have been out of sight in the first half.

"Despite playing well we were simply too shot-shy and seemed determined to walk the ball into the net. At half time I let them know I wasn't pleased with the performance which appeared to do the trick as we played with real character from that point onwards."

NELSON...2

GREAT HARWOOD...3