St Helens Town 1 Maine Road 1 TOWN consigned season 96/97 to the record books at Hoghton Road on Saturday with a display which on another day may have produced maximum points.

Even so, they left it late to salvage a point and keep the Mancunians deep in the relegation struggle when Billy Matheson fired home in the 87th minute after Maine Road had held a precarious lead after going ahead against the run of play through Dave Swindells in the 78th minute.

After a first half in which both sides had escapes, Town settled to dominate the second period and bolstered by the return of recent absentees, always looked the most likely. Three times goalline clearances denied Town before Matheson finally broke the ice but although a draw was satisfactory, the all-round performance was far better than of late and merited more.

Therefore Town finished on 48 points and with games elsewhere still to play it appears a lower mid table final placing will be the outcome.

This is a particular disappointment after the promise of the last couple of seasons but following a poor start they were always playing 'catch up'.

A lack of consistency due to constant desruption was the story of the campaign and the fact that Steve Pennington again top scored despite missing 60 per cent of the season speaks volumes for a side which missed his influence as well as his goals.

His 15 goals were two greater than striking partner Glenn Walker who also had a truncated season through injury .

In a season of contrasts Town blew hot and cold and the lack of drawn games meant their was little in between and while top clubs were pushed to the limit, lower clubs found Town a 'soft touch' towards the end of the season.

Doubles against Burscough, Rossendale and Darwen were particularly pleasing as was hitting four past Mossley, Vauxhall GM and Atherton Collieries in impressive home wins. Alas there were too many below average days and twice the defence 'shipped' seven goals as the 'wheels came off' but despite this Town were capable of matching anyone on their day as eventual champions Trafford can testify.

So now its down to rebuilding for next season and learning from the last but providing the pick of Jimmy McBride's squad are all available at the same time, the nucleus is still there to mount a challenge.

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