Controversial red card helps Copperpot to league title

The controversial dismissal of Littleborough midfielder Lee Kershaw was the main talking point as Copperpot regained The Newbold Tyres Premier League title on Friday night at the home of Heywood St James.

With 20 minutes on the clock and the game still goaless, Kershaw was shown a straight red card by referee David Nightingale for an alleged two-footed tackle on Davey Luker.

At the time the decision divided the gathered crowd with various opinions for and against but referee Nightingale was strong in his belief that the tackle was dangerous and as a result banished the Littleborough number 4 to the stands.

Prior to the dismissal the game had been very even but Littleborough struggled with ten men against the defending champions.

Within 10 minutes of the incident Littleborough were 2-0 down.

The first came from the penalty spot after Jamie Sarsfield lunged in on Chris Ogunyode inside the penalty area. Nick Hodson narrowly beat Jamie Roche from the spot before the keeper then allowed a free-kick to slip under his body to leave his side facing a real uphill battle.

James Mooney then missed a great chance to put his side three goals ahead but somehow contrived to fire wide from six yards out.

To Littleborough’s credit they then began to get a stranglehold on proceedings and the impressive Stuart Shepherd scored with a thunderous left-footed shot after Copperpot had failed to clear a ball into the box.

Within 2 minutes of the restart Littleborough conceded again when a deflected Johnny Lomas shot found the back of the net. Again, however, they refused to throw the towel in and piled plenty of pressure on their opponents and were rewarded when a Danny McWilliams free-kick brought them back to within a goal of being level.

At this stage the underdogs sensed an unlikely equaliser with strikers Baxter and McWilliams causing plenty of problems for the Pot backline. But Copperpot are made of stern stuff and haven’t won the title seven out of the last eight years without good reason and as their opponents threw the proverbial kitchen sink at them they broke away with 88 minutes on the clock to score a killer fourth goal.

The goal effectively secured them the league title once again but they hadn’t finished just yet and Ogunyode scored again within a minute to give the scoreline a more convincing, if flattering, look to it.

Whilst a three goal margin may look convincing on paper this game had far more to it. For Littleborough this campaign will be all about ‘what if?’

Littleborough: Roche, Foster, Salford, Kershaw, Sarsfield, Williams, Beddard (S), Shepherd, Astley, McWilliams, Baxter.

Copperpot: Tompos, Pressley, Cooper, Luker (J), Jopson, Lomas, Luker (D), Hodson, Mooney, Ogunyode (L), Ogunyode (C).