St Helens Town 1 Prescot Cables 1 AFTER just three minutes of Saturday's wind-affected derby at Hoghton Road, Town's Gary Bickerstaffe raced onto King's pass to shoot his side ahead.

Seven minutes from full-time Paul Hartley missed out on two great chances to seal the points for St Helens but it would have been cruel on Prescot who although not at their best, shaded the interim period and certainly came closest to scoring.

Bickerstaffe's strike would have been an equaliser had Town keeper Mark Winstanley not made a stunning first minute save from Phillips' half volley while Town's best effort to increase their lead came on 17 minutes when Walmesley headed narrowly over. Midway through the first half Prescot took control with McMullen heading a great chance over the bar from Hughes' deep cross while Winstanley had to make an excursion out of his goal to head clear.

Cables' equaliser arrived on 35 minutes and it was the 'man most likely' Peter Cumiskey who broke onto Carragher's hooked pass before slotting past Winstanley with Town looking forlornly for the offside flag. With honours now even a rather sterile period ensued with little to stimulate a good crowd and both sides created a single change with Gibiliru rescuing Town in blocking McMullen's driven cross, while, at the other end, Lowe's 20-yarder was always raising over Price's crossbar.

Immediately after the break Joyce's header put Cumiskey down the Prescot left with Winstanley forced to push the cross over the bar, enabling McMullen to head wide from the flag kick. Town had a major escape in the 53rd minute when Gibiliru was hustled into an error by Cumiskey who took possession and burst clear on Winstanley but the keeper did enough to force the shot wide.

Generally though the game had become a stop start affair with repeated whistle for petty offences and the off-side flag but what chances were created came Prescot's way with Reilly keeping cool to clear after Winstanley had raced out with a ricochet falling for Stalker to try a speculative effort. In a rare Town threat Bickerstaffe drove over from a nod down following Gibiliru's 64th minute free kick then Winstanley was again in competent action when clutching Cumiskey's left wing cross before racing out to force Joyce to stab wide. The closing stages were a stalemate with the ball frequently lofted into safe areas but Town despite being subdued for so long almost won the game in the last five minutes when Paul Hartley cleverly beat his man but shot weakly at keeper Price before an even better chance fell his way when Doyle miscued a headed clearance but a lack of composure resulted in a hasty shot which went wide from 15 yards.

Town had one last throw of the dice when Bickerstaffe was fouled just outside the area but Gibiliru's free-kick was way too high.

This, allied to a 3-3 draw at Kidsgrove in mid-week, means Town have now drawn three on the run but will be looking for maximum points at Hoghton Road on Saturday when Chadderton are the visitors 3pm.

St Helens: Winstanley, King, Lowe, Gibiliru, Reilly, O'Neil (capt), Bickerstaffe, Shaw N, Byron, Hartley, Walmesley. Subs: Matheson, Williams, Leyland.

Prescot: Price, Phillips, Stalker, Cassidy, Hughes, Doyle, Joyce, McMullen (capt), Cumiskey, Carragher, Baines. Subs: Sheils, Broom, Carberry.

Referee J Leech (Ashton in Makerfield).

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