St Helens Town 1 Garstang 5: Riversiders race to an emphatic victory

Garstang FC produced a five-star performance on Thursday night with a 5-1 win at St Helens Town.
Garstang were emphatic winners at St Helens Town last ThursdayGarstang were emphatic winners at St Helens Town last Thursday
Garstang were emphatic winners at St Helens Town last Thursday

Richard Cookney had taken his Riversiders down the M6 to face an in-form St Helens team who were looking to get into the play off places.

For the first time this season, Cookney had an embarrassment of riches in terms of player availability with 20 first team players up for selection.

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He saw his players produce an outstanding performance which had been on the cards for weeks.

The early stages of the game saw St Helens have a lot of possession but in areas that couldn’t hurt the Riversiders.

Garstang soon started to exert dominance in midfield with the trio of Jake Salisbury, Sam Maddox and Billy Joyce unrelenting in their tacking and rapid breaks.

St Helens struggled to deal with the excellent Jonny Hothersall, playing in the pocket, while the Coar brothers totally dominated their respective markers.

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The opening goal came when a rapid counter-attack saw Phil Nagy break down the left and his cross found Ric Coar, who finished from close range.

At the other end, David Rossall and debutant Robert Hanslip were rock solid in stifling the home team’s attacks.

When they did break through, keeper Kitchen was on hand to make a couple of trademark saves with one spectacular save from a shot heading to the top corner.

Garstang extended their lead further when a free-kick was played into the box and, following a half clearance, Joyce fired home a tremendous shot.

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Further chances came and went as Alan Coar had a goal disallowed to leave Garstang 2-0 up at half-time.

The game ended as a contest early on in the second half when a right-wing cross was not cleared and Hothersall hit a shot which, on another day, the home keeper could have stopped but the ball went into the net.

Another flowing move saw the ball reach the excellent Joe Melling, whose pinpoint cross found Ric Coar who finished smartly to make it 4-0.

Goal number five came on 71 minutes when Joyce finished off another great move after good work by substitute Ben Roberts.

The home side pulled one back four minutes later through Neil Weaver but this was a mere consolation as the Riversiders were comfortable winners.

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