With both teams sitting in the bottom four going into the game it was Coppull United who knew a win will take them a giant stride towards safety, a defeat would open the door for Thornton and Hesketh Bank hold the key. Despite a Lancashire Shield Semi-final coming up in midweek the Coppull manager named the strongest available team.

Hesketh Bank also bought in some changes as Ruairi Mc Daid was away in Ireland and Henry Heighton unavailable due to work commitments. Manager Evergreen gave the number one shirt to Bermuda international Stefan Dill who last featured between the sticks on the 13th of September in the LFA Shield against AFC Monton. Josh Dunroe kept his place at right-back while Jamie Wynne returned to the side to partner Kevin Cox in central defence. Ian Dickinson returned to his natural position of left defence. Mohammed Lulat was placed just infront of the defence as the holding midfielder. Vice-Captain Neil Hulme was again given the job as skipper as usual captain Tony Sergeant was named on the bench after returning to the squad. Ayibongwe Mabhena and Yves Zama were both unavailable so Lewis Saunders was placed in left midfield next to Tommy Toth who also returned after missing last weeks game. Mark McGroaty was named as the wide man on the right while David Hogg was named as the lone striker. Winger Will Threlkeld made the bench as did John Ascroft who last featured in September.

The game was quiet until half-time. The only real chance in the first half fell to one of the Coppull players but he failed to beat Dill in goal. The deadlock was finally broken by a thunderbolt from Lewis Saunders after a clever pass from Tommy Toth into his path before Saunders drilled from 30 yards into the top corner giving Gavin King in the Coppull goal no chance. Coppull failed to respond to falling behind as their long balls over the top were dealt with well by Jamie Wynne and Kevin Cox. Ian Dickinson threw himself to block a few decent chances from the Coppull forwards before a terrible clearance from Jamie Wynne nearly lobbed his own 'keeper from outside the box. An own-goal looked certain but Stefan Dills left hand came to the rescue by tipping the ball over the cross bar. David Hogg had a few decent chances to put the game to bed but failed to beat King. Tommy Toth should of made it 2-0 but instead of slotting into the net with only the Gavin King to beat he decided to round King but was tackled brilliantly by Dave Taylor.

Mohammed Lulat possibly played his best game of the season as anything that dropped to him near the Hesketh Bank penalty area he cleared brilliantly and made decent tackles not to let anyone through. Neil Hulme put in a solid performance as always stopping Coppull's counter attacks every time.

David Hogg finally got his reward for his hard work 4 minutes into stoppage time as King came rushing out his area after a ball over the top from Saunders, King then miskicked his clearance straight to Hulme who played in Hogg and he slotted into the empty net to make sure of the 3 points. Less than a minute later Hogg was substituted for John Ascroft for his 179th Hesketh Bank appearance. Hogg walked off the pitch to a standing ovation from the crowd of around 50 people.

A massive win for Evergreen's team to possibly give them a really good chance in avoiding relegation. The Eagley - Euxton Villa result didn't help either as Eagley ran out 3-1 winners to take them up to 19 points and 3 clear of the drop.

TEAM: Stefan Dill, Josh Dunroe, Jamie Wynne, Kevin Cox, Ian Dickinson, Mohammed Lulat, Mark McGroaty(Will Threlkeld 64'), Tommy Toth(Tony Sergeant 90+1), Neil Hulme(c), Lewis Saunders, David Hogg(John Ascroft 90+5).

GOALS: Lewis Saunders 48', David Hogg 90+4'.

Booked: Josh Dunroe 88'.

Man of The Match: Stefan Dill
Supporters Joint Man of The Match: Lewis Saunders and Mohammed Lulat.

Next week Hesketh Bank are at HOME to 14th placed Thornton Cleveleys with a 3pm kick-off!

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