Skelmersdale United 3 St Helens Town 2

THIS NWCL first round up encounter at sun-drenched White Moss Park produced a shock result but Town can have no complaints as they could conceivably have been well adrift by the interval thanks to a defensive horror show which was to prove their undoing.

Town arrived on the back of a superb 5-1 win at Maine Road in the floodlit trophy and perhaps there lay the problem as complacency crept in, allied to enforced back-four changes due to Karl Jones being cup-tied and Paul Kirwan on holiday. The return of Franny Hill and Steve Williams was a boost but the positional changes disrupted the unit and a lack of midfield authority plus defensive jitters added up to a recipe for disaster.

Skem's Frank Ryan was the chief beneficiary with a hat-trick and he could have doubled his tally as the home side opened Town up with ease.

On the plus side, Town always looked threatening going forward and after surviving a series of amazingly early let-offs, they took the lead on 24 minutes when Hill powered a fine header home after Gwyther had done the spadework on the left. But Skem drew level when Ryan capitalised on Longton's indecision before rounding keeper Allison to score.

Both sides were guilty of bad misses close to the breakand there was no addition to the scoreline until the 59th minutes when Skelmersdale took the lead as glaring spaces enabled Ryan to pick his spot with a downward header.

Six minutes later Pennington should have had Town on terms but deliberated too long on the six-yard line giving Evans the chance to make a crucial block. An equaliser was on the cards though and it arrived in the 79th minute when Steve Williams peeled off deep to crash Lowe's free kick home from an acute angle.

With extra time looming the game was there to be won or lost and Pennington swivelled to send a volley just over the Skelmersdale bar, but with two minutes left Town's Lowe paid the price for not resorting to a no-nonsense clearance and as the rebound gave United numerical advantage on the break, Ryan was able to lob over the stranded Allison.

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