CHORLEY could not complain at going down to a rare away defeat against promotion chasing Burscough who squandered a hat full of first half chances before the Unibond First Division's leading scorer Ryan Lowe converted the one which finally separated the teams.

Burscough's high tempo opening produced a flurry of corners followed by glaring misses from Lowe and Ray Birch. Ian Leather then got in a vital tackle on Lowe before Birch again blazed high and wide after a great run by Lee McEvilly.

When the Magpies at last got in a serious blow, they had strong claims for a penalty for hand-ball turned down and then in a hectic barrage on the Burscough goal Paul Fleming, Paul Allan and Ian Barker all had fierce shots charged down by Burscough defenders. Allan and then Adam Critchley were only just off target with headers from corners as Chorley kept up the pressure.

It was therefore against the run of play when Lowe, looking suspiciously off-side, collected Birch's pass and rifled home a magnificent strike from 12 yards, two minutes before half time.

McEvilly wasted a further chance for Burscough soon after the break when Tony Gaffey missed a clearance and later Chorley keeper Simon Marsh had to react smartly to whip the ball off Danny Sands' toes.

Chorley almost snatched a last gasp equaliser when five minutes into added time Critchley cleverly released Neil Mitchell whose well-struck shot grazed the far post with the keeper beaten.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.