Littleborough join Copperpot in Sunday Trophy Final

A performance full of power and brute determination enabled Littleborough to overcome defending Lancashire FA Sunday Trophy Champions AFC Lostock Hall on Wednesday night (25 February) to set-up a mouth watering final with fellow Rochdale side Copperpot.

This year Littleborough manager Lee Kershaw has assembled a squad that possesses physical presence in abundance and with new recruits Kristian Liptrot and Stuart Shepherd at the heart of this new look outfit his side proved too powerful for a shell-shocked Lostock Hall.

‘Boro took the lead with less than two minutes on the clock and they exposed the weakness of their opponents from the off. Tim Astley swung a free-kick into the area and the lack of a commanding figure at the back for Lostock Hall was evident as Shepherd glanced home the opening goal from eight yards via a shoulder blade.

With five minutes played Littleborough doubled their lead and again the goal stemmed from a set-piece. The original ball into the box was never cleared and after a shot was charged down, player/manager Kershaw saw his acrobatic overhead kick from an acute angle fly into the top corner. It was a fine piece of skill from the number seven but once again it all stemmed from their opponents inability to clear their lines.

Despite the two-goal setback Lostock Hall soon began to give the gathering masses a glimpse of why they had won the trophy last season. In the final third they looked a dangerous outfit and with the creative Alex Randell pulling the strings they could count themselves unlucky not to have scored on a couple of occasions.

As the game descended into a contest of who could commit the most fouls the next goal was always likely to prove crucial and after a lunge on striker Danny McWilliams, the goal went Littleborough’s way. Despite the foul taking place near the halfway line the inevitable long ball into the box landed straight onto the head of Ben Fielding and it was effectively game over. Three chances, three goals for Littleborough.

Lostock Hall didn’t know what had hit them at this point but in truth they were simply being out-muscled all over the park. They didn't stand toe-to-toe with Littleborough and found themselves in a mess at half-time.

After the restart it was obvious the side from Preston needed an early goal. In forwards David Campbell and John Sanderson they had two willing runners but they were getting very little change from Liptrot and Williams at the heart of the Littleborough defence and it wasn’t until Alex Randell smacked the crossbar from 30 yards out that it looked likely they’d score.

Minutes later, however, and Littleborough increased their lead and inevitably it came via a set-piece. After what seemed the umpteenth foul, yet another long ball was launched into the box from near the halfway line and after more uncertain defending and indecisive goalkeeping Bill Williams was quickest to the loose ball to score from eight yards.

There wasn’t anything pretty about the goal at all but Littleborough had spotted a weakness in one particular area and exploited it to the maximum.

From this point on both sides knew the game was over but the scrappy nature of the contest meant referee Nick Gibbons had to be on his toes at all times. With Littleborough’s Shepherd, Fielding and Kershaw doing their utmost to disrupt the play of their opponents, Lostock Hall began to run out of ideas going forward but John Sanderson should have scored when played through on goal but could only blast over.

It was then Littleborough's turn to miss a golden opportunity following a counter-attack led by Brett Baxter. Following a quickly cleared corner and faced with the task of sprinting 50 yards up a steep slope, despite the fact nobody stood between him and the goal, Baxter, perhaps wisely, opted to pass to team-mate Andrew Jackson but after manfully taking on the task of the foot race he didn’t have the pace to test the keeper himself and instead squared the ball to Danny McWilliams who saw his shot blocked.

Half chances came and went for both sides but it was a matter of running down the clock as far as Littleborough were concerned. The game had been won by this stage and they used the final 15 minutes to give run-outs to substitutes Dave Aadahl, Tom Beddard and Brad Craw.

As referee Gibbons blew for full time Lostock Hall left the field battered and bruised but knowing deep down they had come up against very effective opponents on the night.

Likewise the watching Copperpot management team will certainly know they’ll need to be at full strength come the final on 25 March at Lancashire FA Headquarters if they are to stand up to the power of this Littleborough outfit.

Littleborough – Jammy, Jackson, Salford, Fielding, Liptrot, Williams, Kershaw, Shepherd, McWilliams, Baxter, Astley.