THE happiest man in Chorley at around 4.50pm on Saturday was surely Congleton manager Glynn Chamberlain.

He danced a jig of delight along the touchline after seeing his side complete an unlikely double at the expense of the Magpies.

It would have been much easier for Chorley to have won this game than to lose it as they did. They squandered three golden chances to sew things up before half time but saw their hopes evaporate in a 10-minute spell after the break.

The Magpies withstood a fiery opening by Congleton to take a grip on the first half, but Neil Mitchell completely missed his kick six yards out from Paul Allen's inviting pull-back and then both Simon Kay and Ian Barker directed point blank headers disappointingly wide from crosses by Colin Potts. Three minutes into the second half Congleton snatched the lead with their first and only real chance. Chorley defender Ian Gibson unluckily lost his footing in the act of clearing just inside the box and Steve Callear pounced to crack a low drive just inside the post.

Worse followed for the Magpies when Kay was sent off following two bookings in five minutes. This reverse stung Chorley into raising their game but they found hard working Congleton in no mood to give up their winning ticket.

Even so Barker should have equalised with five minutes left when set up by substitute Keith Evans but the young striker contrived to blaze high over the bar from just four yards, a miss which summed up Chorley's wasteful afternoon's work.

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