Oswaldtwistle Juniors Under 15s 4

Revidge under 15s 1

"THERE'S only one greedy Michael Walsh" were the chants from the touchline led by the Oswaltwistle manager and his chorus of supporters.

But if the sharp shooter scores wonder goals likes this every week then he won't mind what he is called.

And he can also point to the fact that apart from scoring two goals he also set up another for Michael Brandon to help seal a convincing win.

Like all top performers, Walsh saved his best to last. And while you can take nothing away from him for beating four Revidge defenders before hammering the ball home, the slippery conditions were a definite help.

As he weaved his way to goal through the mud the Revidge defenders couldn't keep their feet as they frantically tried to get the ball off him.

In the end it was a well-taken goal but made to look even better by a flat back four who were left flat on their backs.

It was a strange game to say the least as Revidge looked the far more skilful side with James Lofthouse and Andrew Beardsworth in particular catching the eye in midfield.

They regularly carved open the Oswaldtwistle defence with Richard Grogan and Jonathan Bey the main culprit for missing chances.

However, Bey made up for his early missed opportunities with a goal that was more fortunate than anything else but the build up play deserved a goal.

Richard Forest started it in the middle of the park and fed Asif Aqvil who released Bey down the right hand wing.

And Bey's resulting cross caught Russell Windle unaware in the Oswaldtwistle goal as the ball beat him at his near post. The first half of Oswaldtwistle's twin strike force drew them level when Matthew Brandon was on hand to hammer home a rebound after good work from his twin Michael.

Then it was time for the Michael Walsh show.

Up until then Walsh appeared to be running into dead ends and on this occasion that seemed to be the case.

But he held the ball up on the edge of the area waiting for support and that arrived in the form of Michael Brandon who fired the ball low and hard under keeper Gareth Barrett. As the rain kept falling and falling, Oswaldtwistle adapted to the conditions better and their third goal was real route one stuff.

Andrew Hays played it out of defence and Matthew Brandon helped it on into the path of Walsh who held off John Metcalfe to slot the ball home. And a free scoring first half was completed with Walsh's wonder goal.

There were no further goals after the break which was mainly due to the atrocious conditions rather than good defending or poor finishing.

Oswaldtwistle: Russell Windle, Andre w Hays, Matthew Brandon, Anthony Wardle, Michael Brandon, Ryan Almond, Wayne Keighley, Daniel Worden, Michael Walsh, Mark Smith and Liam O'Riley.

Revidge: Gareth Barrett, Danny Blackburn, John Metcalfe, Asif Aqvil, James Lofthouse, Richard Forest, Andrew Beardsworth, Michael Parker, Richard Grogan, Jonathan Bey and Navid Iqbal.

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