When Saturday comes, it invariably results in high drama for Thornton Cleveleys.

And last weekend was no different as, following the loss of manager John Hills to Hyde FC, Thornton showed tremendous spirit to salvage a point which, even with added on time beckoning, had appeared extremely unlikely.

With Lee Thorpe at the helm, Thornton made a steady start only for the hosts to capitalise on some hesitant defending midway through the 1st half and take the lead.

And an uphill battle became even tougher just after the interval when a miskick by substitute Harry Roe, led to Burnley’s 2nd goal.

A clever tactical switch saw Jonathan Atkinson enter the fray at left back, so allowing Alex Grout to play a more advanced role, and with the inspirational Thorpe bellowing instructions from the touchline, Thornton totally controlled the 2nd half.

The outstanding Ashley Rowley and Brett Dawson were central to most of Thornton’s attacking forays and with Roe, John Beavers and Grout dominant in midfield, the visitors created chance after chance to no avail.

With 10 minutes remaining, Thorpe played his final card, bringing on erstwhile stand in goalkeeper Michael Tallentire as an auxiliary striker to add more beef up front.

The route one approach saw Thornton playing a high tempo game which Burnley struggled to contain. As the game entered injury time, the hosts were becoming increasingly desperate despite their 2 goal cushion and in the 91st minute the bombardment finally paid dividends when Dawson nipped in behind the home defence to reduce the arrears.

The animated Thorpe refused to believe this was merely a consolation and implored his players for one extra effort.

Almost immediately, Grout attempted a speculative 40 yard shot which incredibly thundered into the net, sparking off exuberant celebrations. High drama indeed.

Thornton Cleveleys Football Club

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