North West Counties League

Chadderton 1 Alport 3

Two goals from debutant Lee Pickerill and another from Arron Johns helped Alport record a third successive away win, and a seventh in all competitions, against a plucky Chadderton side.

Pickerill lashed Whitchurch into a third-minute lead with a fine finish with his left foot.

But the home side levelled five minutes before half time when Leon Iluobe skipped through the heart of the Reds defence to slip the ball past Danny Read.

The turning point may well have come bang on the half-time whistle when a nasty challenge curtailed Elliot Ledwards’ afternoon, forcing Alport into a shuffle during the interval.

With no natural left back among the subs, manager Luke Goddard threw Ryan Thomas on to switch formation to 3-5-2 – and the visitors went on to control much of the second 45.

Pickerill popped up at the far post five minutes in to head beyond Jordan Latham, after a ball in from skipper Simon Everall, who worked tirelessly throughout.

The third goal didn’t arrive until 11 minutes from time when Johns took a great first touch to set up a goalscoring opportunity, and his shot beyond Latham was a classy one.

Almost immediately, a carbon-copy chance presented itself but Johns opted to lay the ball off for Everall rather than take the shot on himself, and the pass lacked enough weight to give Everall the goal his display merited.

And in stoppage time, sub Kev Street thundered a shot against the angle of bar and post as Alport finished on top.

This was a long way from the Reds’ best performance of the season, but being able to scrap for wins like this could prove invaluable to Goddard when the prizes are dished out at the end of the season.

Whitchurch are on track as the midway stage of the season approaches next weekend away at runaway league leaders Silsden.