Whitchurch Alport 1

AFC Blackpool 0

A THIRD goal in the space of three days from winger Lee Pickerill was enough to earn Alport a deserved three points against a hard-working AFC Blackpool side who played their part in a ultra-competitive fixture in awful conditions.

The game started at a good tempo for Alport as they looked to make advantage of the visitors’ long journey to Yockings Park on a Monday night.

Last year’s top goalscorer Mike Blundell made his first start for the Reds since September after a season plagued by injury.

Blundell was at the forefront of the positive start made by the home side and after some excellent flowing football, Johns delivered a precise ball into the box for Blundell eight yards out. The striker couldn’t make the contact he was looking for to direct the ball past Kirkland in goal and the game remained level.

Alport created several half-chances but that elusive first goal didn’t arrive as the rain continued to drive down, making the Yockings Park pitch very heavy and difficult to play on for both sides.

Blackpool were a huge threat for the Reds defence with forwards Duffield, Williams and Gregory causing lots of issues with their pace, and Williams and Gregory missed decent opportunities to put the play-off hopefuls ahead.

The second half saw Alport on the front foot and looking dangerous with Blundell, Johns and Pickerill all creating problems for the AFC defence.

It was Porter who had the first gilt-edged opportunity of the half as he broke through on goal but his touch took him too wide and the chance dwindled as Blackpool cleared their lines.

At the back, Alport defended superbly and limited the dangerous visiting forward line to very few opportunities.

Alex Hughes and Harry Parkinson replaced the injured Blundell and Porter as the Reds pushed forward to gain a deserved winning goal.

This finally came in the 77th minute – and it was that man Pickerill with the goal.

James lofted a ball forward from left back which cleared the Blackpool defence, goalkeeper Kirkland was hesitant as Hughes got to the ball first to set up Pickerill for a tap-in from three yards.

The relief was evident for Alport as the players celebrated together, sensing a reward for a battling display against a good Blackpool side.

Alport twice hit the woodwork as they slowly ground down their visitors.

Both set of players gained much-deserved applause from the 143 supporters in attendance as they played their part in a decent competitive match in what became dreadful conditions.

It was another three points for Luke Goddard’s men as they moved back up to third place in the table ahead of a trip to Atherton LR tonight (7.45pm).