Prestwich came away from third placed Castle Hill empty handed after Saturday’s two-nil defeat in the Lancashire Amateur League Premier Division.
Following a good run of four straight wins during October, this trip to high-flying Castle Hill always promised to be a tough examination for Craig Howarth’s team.
The home side settled in to an early attacking style of play with an obvious plan of testing Alex Blake in the Prestwich goal straight from the off.
However, four of five long range efforts from the Castle forwards presented no problems for Blake as he collected anything that came his way.
On eleven minutes, Prestwich could have easily taken the lead but Paul O’Donnell saw his strike palmed on to the underside of the crossbar by the Castle ‘keeper before bouncing back in to his hands.
O’Donnell was in the thick of it again soon after. In the box with the ball at his feet, he was body checked from behind by one of the burly Castle defenders which sent the forward to the ground. Unbelievably, no penalty was awarded to Prestwich despite the most obvious of fouls.
And the home side then rubbed salt in to the Prestwich wounds as they took the lead with a good cross and header that left Blake with no chance in the Prestwich goal.
The visitors poked and probed as the game wore on but found the Castle defence a tough nut to crack.
Indeed, the only real opportunity presented to Prestwich was courtesy of a hurried clearance from the Castle ‘keeper that bounced off the nearby Sean Haslam and straight back in to his grateful hands.
With time rapidly running out, the home side killed the game off as they hit Prestwich on the break to score their second with the last kick of the game.
Prestwich travel to reigning Premier Division Champions Failsworth Dynamos this Saturday. Kick off at Brierley Avenue is 2pm.
PRESTWICH: Blake, Buckley, Bushell, Hoolighan, Kosub, Taylor, Roberts (Smith), Walsh, O’Donnell (Jackson), Haslam, Kirkley
• Prestwich Reserves came from behind in their derby match against Old Standians Reserves to take the three points and maintain their 100% record. A Danny Jones effort cancelled out Standians early opener before Mike Hoggard came off the bench to score the winner with just ten minutes remaining.
• Prestwich Sunday Team climbed further away from the danger zone in the Bury Premier Division following a good 5-2 win against Ostrich at Heys Road. Mark Broderick scored a hat-trick in the match as Jamie Comiskey’s team moved up one place to seventh.
