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Played on the seniors training pitch the 1st half was largely uninspiring. There was very little by way of clear chances. James Taylor shot wide after some neat interplay and Wilson fired a volley at the keeper after sprinting onto a long through ball. Josh Cook in the Burnley goal was as much a spectator as the crowd down the side of the pitch.
The 2nd half provided much more by way of entertainment with the game opening up a little more. The first minute of the half should have seen a goal as Taylor was played in down the centre but he saw his shot blocked by the keeper, who charged out well.
Wilson also saw a shot blocked following good work by Adam Evans. The visitors were seeing all their danger created by the pace of their diminutive right winger, though his speed was not backed up with enough of an end product to truly threaten.
With just over an hour on the clock Pash decided to take action to try and force the goal. He made a triple change with Tommy Taylor, Shay McCartan and U-15 forward Lewis Nuttall entering the field in place of James Taylor, Adam Evans and Steven Hewitt.
The reshuffle helped to inject fresh thought into our forward play and there were chances for Alex Mullin and Wilson with both shooting high and wide. However, the goal did finally come on the 70 minute mark. The ball was sprayed out wide to Wilson who broke down the wing. His cross went deep over Nuttall but was perfect for Tommy Taylor, who produced a cracking flying volley to beat the keeper.
It could have been a dream debut at this level for Nuttall when he was given the chance to bag a first goal minutes later as Taylor squared it to him around six yards out, but he clipped it back across goal and wide of the post.
We now have one game to go and our title hopes may be over before that even comes about, but never the less it has been an entertaining season for me down at Gawthorpe. For the lads who have been offered deals for the 1st team squad I offer my congratulations. For those that have been unable to earn pro deals I hope that someone lower down the league will take a look at them and offer them a route back into the game.
Team:- Josh Cook, Ed Williams, Steve Edwards, Tom Anderson, Curtis Woods, Steven Hewitt (Shay McCartan), Archie Love, Alex Mullin, Adam Evans (Lewis Nuttall), James Taylor (Tommy Taylor), Ross Wilson
Subs not used:- Neil Yadolahi, Callum Jakovlevs