After a wet and windy week it was a welcome surprise that Euxton Villa's pitch passed a 10am inspection and praise must be given to their ground staff who worked tirelessly up to the kick off despite the relentless wind and rain.

Unfortunately for us goalkeeper Joe Griffith was taken ill shortly before the kick off and so Manager James Smith had little option at such short notice but to give16 year old Wiktor Pamfil his debut. Added to this Chris Nation and Josh Roberts were both stuck on the M6 and didn't arrive until just before kick off and took their places along side James Green as substitutes when both would have been in the starting line-up. The team did include new signing central midfielder Richard Wilson who was facing his old team mates on his debut. Lewis Saunders was on the Euxton Villa bench as he had been transferred in the opposite direction.

The pitch although very wet held up well throughout the match and it was the home side who took the early initiative forcing some early corners which were dealt with by central defenders Adam Thompson and Danny Kirk protecting the young keeper. However on 17 minutes the deadlock was broken when Pamfil was unable to keep hold of a shot which zipped off the wet surface and Daniel Morris pounced to score the opening goal. On 24 minutes Pamfil denied Danny Hogg with a smart save at the strikers feet. Gradually we managed to get a grip of the game and forced a few corners one of which saw defender Thompson's fierce shot somehow blocked on the line. On the stroke of half time Wilson must have thought he had equalised with a great strike from the edge of the box but the Euxton keeper managed to parry and was grateful for his defenders clearing the ball just as Richard Burns looked as though he was going to tap in for the equaliser.

A minute into the second half Morris added his second goal escaping down the left hand side of the area before drilling the ball past Pamfil. Almost from the restart we thought we should have been awarded a penalty when skipper Dan Birkby appeared to be manhandled in the box but much to the annoyance of the players and management team the referee waved play on. The result was put beyond doubt when Hogg went up the other end of the pitch to score from a direct free kick. All three substitutes were then given a run out but Morris grabbed his hat trick in the 56th minute. Marland completed the scoring in the 63rd minute from a corner to leave us well beaten in the end. The score line could have been worse but for an excellent save by Pamfil in the dying moments of the game.

Next up is the visit of Garstang to the Centenary Sports Ground - weather permitting!!!

Hesketh Bank AFC

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