NELSON, unbeaten since the opening day of the season, faced a Colne side still looking for their first league point.

As in many local derbys, the form book went out of the window and Nelson got exactly what they deserved - nothing!

The home side opened strongly and scored after two minutes when a Nutter corner was headed home by Connolly. But Colne's reply was instant and they got in behind the defence for Ballinchio to cross for Mario to score at the back post.

The rest of the half was quite even with Nelson having the best chances. Whiteside in particular was thwarted by the Colne keeper when clean through.

But Nelson had too many passengers in the team, whereas Colne seemed fired up.

It was the away team who took the lead after 44 minutes when Boyd conceded a penalty and Alban Molloy fired home past debutant Jim Davis. In spite of the double substitution of Howarth and Warwick for Roscoe and Holden, and some positional changes, Nelson were still poor in the second period. Colne sealed the game with a goal fit for any league.

Heseltine ran unchallenged from five yards inside his half, pushed it past the last line of defence and ran another 30 yards before blasting the ball into the far corner. Nelson continued to have a lot of possession, but Colne's direct long balls to their two quick front men always caused problems for a square Nelson defence. With time running out, the Blues hit back when Nutter scored after the keeper had pushed out Whiteside's header.

It was too little too late and the points rightly went to the hard-working Colne team.

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