Prestwich continued to gather momentum in their push up the table with another excellent team performance against a powerful Rossendale outfit.
The win, their 4th on the bounce taking them up to 6th spot with enough games in hand on most to potentially make the second half of their season interesting at least.
The wet 4G surface made for a very fast paced game littered with mistakes as the ball zipped across it making it difficult for all not to over hit passes.
The early exchanges were fairly even and somewhat scrappy but gradually it was the hosts who started to look the most likely creating several half chances, whilst Prestwich struggled to create anything meaningful in the final third.
On the positive side for the visitors new signings brothers Krzysztof and Stefan Rapacz at centre back and wide left respectively were both showing up strongly and are clearly going to be a huge asset in the remaining games.
It all changed on the half hour when Daniel Ingham and Aldair Victorano combined to pressure the hosts defence into a series of errors that saw a Rapacz cross from the left being headed into his own net by a retreating defender to give Prestwich the lead.
Buoyed by the goal the fluency of Prestwich’s passing improved and they came into the ascendency, minutes later it was 0-2 when Rick Walker dispossessed a Rossendale defender wide on the left and cut inside to square the ball to Tito Miguel who’d come in from the right. The pass looked to have gone too far beyond Miguel to get a decent attempt in but he re-adjusted his body shape superbly to rifle home from 10 yards.
Prestwich remained on top and came very close to adding a crucial third that would have made the second period far less stressful then it turned out. Sean Haslam playing in a much deeper lying role than usual alongside Darren Buckley in centre mid played a delightful defence splitting pass to Rapacz(S) who’d timed his run to perfection leaving him one on one with the keeper, his shot was good but at a nice height for the keeper who made a good save to send it wide to the left leaving it 0-2 at the interval.
The second half started as the first in that it was hotly contested but fairly even, although Prestwich passed up a good chance to increase their lead following a great surging run down the left by full back Andrew Dean who’s pull back just evaded Walker.
The next pivotal moment came on 55 minutes though when Haslam handled a goal bound shot, the misdemeanour was deemed to be deliberate leading to his dismissal and Rossendale pulling a goal back from the ensuing penalty.
What followed was testimony to the spirit and determination within the group as Rossendale launched an all-out assault on the Prestwich goal, and in the case of one particular nasty dangerous challenge on Rapacz(S) and several on Miguel an assault on the Prestwich players.
Time and time again balls were launched into the box but Prestwich’s back line of Dean, Paul Taylor, Rapacz(K) and Mike Neary were magnificent, time and time again heading the ball away and throwing themselves into tackles. But it was indeed a great defensive effort by the whole team from front to back.
With the minutes ticking by the hosts attempts became more and more desperate and Prestwich were hanging on grimly albeit without giving their opponents a real clear chance on goal. That was until the 88th minute when a Rossendale striker finally found himself through on goal some 18 yards out to the left with just keeper Hudson to beat, Hudson who’d already played his part in the defensive effort with some fine catches under pressure from crosses and corners spread himself brilliantly to block the shot.
And so Prestwich saw the game through to earn another precious three points.
