Vale stay top after second-half goal blitz

11:40am Thursday 11th September 2008

Elton Vale 4 Pennington 1

Manchester League Premier Division

PENNINGTON looked anything but a side at the bottom of the table without a point to their name in the first half.

They were quite happy to pass the ball around and found equally as much space as their Elton counterparts.

Elton almost got a fluky goal on the half hour with a massive deflection, but enough pace had been taken out to allow the goalkeeper to turn and save.

Elton had to raise their game after the break when Pennington scored early on after the Vale defence stood off the scorer.

It looked as though it could be a barren night for the Vale as they got little reward for their increasing effort.

Then midway through the half they stunned Pennington in a five minute burst.

Tom Stubbs sent in what looked like a poor corner but it evaded all attempts to clear and Matt Barnes provided a finish. Two minutes later and the same duo combined for Barnes to crash home the second.

Tom Hardman replacing Carey on the left, then cut in on to his favoured right foot and curled a neat shot into the far corner.

The game was effectively decided but victory was sealed with Stubbs once more going down the right wing to pick out Steve Stott who had made his way to the back post to add the fourth. The win kept Elton in top spot in the table.

Saturday’s Lancashire Shield match at Leigh was postponed and rearranged for this Saturday (kick-off 2pm) at Leigh Sports Village.

The reserve team’s game was one of the few played in the league and a sound 7-1 drubbing of West Didsbury sent them to the top of their table.

Tom Smith opened the floodgates before Jimmy Finch added two in quick succession, Jon Darby scored with a great shot, Darby scored a second and Andy Walsh struck two great goals.

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