IN ONE of only two North West Counties Football League Second Division fixtures to beat the weather on Saturday, Padiham earned a very useful away point thanks to a 1-1 draw against promotion hopefuls Alsager Town, but it came at a cost to the Storks and that was the loss of their influential defender Carl Parker who damaged his ankle ligaments early in the first half and could now be out of action for some time.

The game started as you would expect with the home side dominating the initial stages and looking for an early breakthrough which they got in the third minute when Padiham keeper Kirk Marsden completely misjudged a left sided corner and Alsager's Andrew Kinsey converted the loose ball to make it 1-0.

Further pressure from the Cheshire side almost led to another goal but it was Padiham who came closest to scoring when in their first real attack of the match Darren Forrest found Ian Pilkington unmarked in the visitors six-yard box and with an equaliser looking a certainty, Alsager's goalkeeper Robert Powner made an excellent save to stop Pilkington's 12th minute close-range shot.

Almost immediately Alsager forced a carbon copy piece of action at the other end, this time Padiham keeper Kirk Marsden saved well when he somehow stopped Karl Bayley's close-range effort.

Carl Parker's injury delayed proceedings for some time and when the game restarted it took Padiham some time to settle into their reshuffled shape, although a 28th minute blockbuster from Shaun Kendall needed Alsager keeper Powner to be at his best to keep it out.

Padiham had to endure further pressure from the home side surviving a massive goalmouth scramble in the 37th minute relying on Kirk Marsden to deny Karl Bayley with a one-footed save in the 41st minute and then thanking Darren Fullard for a last-second clearance a minute later.

Keeping the deficit down to only one goal at the half time interval gave Padiham the breathing space they needed and in the second half they looked a different side with Andrew Kelly and Craig Wilkinson tightening up in defence and the Storks midfield gradually winning their battles as well.

The major change to the game occurred when Padiham substitute Dean Stowe entered the play. His pace up front gave the Storks an added cutting edge and caused real panic in the Alsager defence. Padiham's equaliser arrived 15 minutes from time and was fully deserved.

Shaun Kendall cracked in a low hard free kick, Alsager goalkeeper Robert Powner failed to hold the shot and Padiham's leading goalscorer Ian Pilkington nipped in to score his 16th of the season.

Five minutes later and the Storks were given a great chance to win the game when Pilkington was upended and referee Allan Brown awarded Padiham a penalty. Anthony McCluskey took the spot kick but failed to beat Powner who dived to his right to make a crucial save.

In the final two minutes of the game Alsager thought they had snatched the winner with a headed goal but the referee had spotted some pushing and the goal was disallowed to leave both sides with a point apiece.

ALSAGER TOWN 1 PADIHAM 1