Avro 7 Garstang 2: Riversiders' emphatic exit from the Macron Cup

Ric Coar scored both of Garstangs goals in their Macron Cup defeat

Garstang initially set up to disrupt their hosts’ style of play with the early exchanges seeing Avro have plenty of the ball but away from the Riversiders’ goal.

It was Garstang who had the first chance when Tom Graham’s free-kick fell to the unmarked Cameron Ross, who could only shoot wildly over from five yards.

As seems to be the case at the moment, Garstang were left to rue that opportunity when, from the restart, a long ball forward see Reagan Jarrett get behind the defence to score on 13 minutes.

Three minutes later and it was 2-0 when the referee awarded a penalty despite the lack of any appeal from the home side.

Nevertheless, Louis Potts scored from 12 yards to double their lead.

To Garstang’s credit their heads did not go down and they started to press higher up the pitch.

They were rewarded just after the half-hour when their best player on the day, Ric Coar, dispossessed a defender and turned two more inside out before firing home from just inside the box to halve the deficit.

However, they conceded again on 36 minutes when a free-kick was whipped to the back post where Michael Norton scored with a free header.

It got worse for the Riversiders when, just before half-time, Phil Nagy brought down a home forward, conceded a penalty and was sent off.

Potts again scored from 12 yards and, in first-half added time, Jake Pollard found the net to make it 5-1 at the break.

Pollard doubled his tally seconds after the break when a cross from the left fround him at the back post to score his side’s sixth of the afternoon.

To Garstang’s credit, they continued to try and play with manager Lee Baker using all three of his substitutes to try and rescue something from the game.

They managed a second goal in the 63rd minute when Coar scored again following superb work down the right by Dan Birch.

They also had another effort cleared off the line but it was Avro who had the last word on 73 minutes when Norton scored his second of the match.

Garstang will look to bounce back on Saturday when they face Steeton FC at Cougar Park (3pm).