Saturday saw a mixture of fortunes and emotions with two very different results in the Eagley sides, with the 1st team taking a hefty defeat, but the reserves taking the points in their local derby!
The first team traveled away to Thornton Cleveleys, and with both central defenders out (Jack Horan – suspended, and Lee Brickles – injured) manager Simon Whaley and assistant Scott Derbyshire had to change the formation in the hope the team could cope against a strong Thornton side. Sadly, this was not the case and on 20 minutes the home side breached the Eagles defence and Sam Mecklenburgh opened the scoring for 1 nil. More sloppy Eagley play allowed the well organised Thornton side in again to allow Mecklenburgh to score his second. It remained 2 nil at the break but in the second half Thornton continued to press as the Eagles uncharacteristically ‘crumbled’ and before they knew it were 5 goals down! The only positive from the afternoon was young striker Taylor Jones who was put into the mix in the second half, where after his tireless work was rewarded with a consolation goal to make the final score 5-1.
A clearly annoyed Whaley after the game said, ‘Its one of those days that we will want to forget. There was no heart or belief from the majority of the players and it was a poor performance all round, with the exception of Taylor (Jones) who was unlucky not to start. But when he came on he worked his socks off and was rewarded with a goal. I’ve told them I’ve no problem using some of the younger lads and I will, as they’re hungry and give me everything, and at this moment in time i’m not getting that from some of the others in the squad.’
Meanwhile, up at Thomasson Fold it was a different story as the reserves under new management of Craig Coote and Oli Clarke took on Turton FC in the local league 2 derby.
Eagley started off brightly, but then found themselves under some good Turton pressure and only some great defending managed to keep Turton out. But then on 12 minutes the breakthrough came and a great through ball from Mike Dawson found striker player/boss Clarke who was hacked down in the box, and Man of the Match Conor Close made no mistake from the spot for 1 nil. It was pretty even at this point with both teams missing chances but another great ball over the Turton defence found its way to the onrushing Close who slotted home for 2 nil, and that’s how it remained at the break. A change saw Craig Coote come off for Jake Hurst, who wasted no time in running at the Turton defence but just couldn’t find the end product. Until a pin point cross from Clarke found Hurst in the middle to smash it home for 3 nil. Some of the young Eagley players were really making their make in the game and looked to be making the most of their chances in the side. But on 80 minutes after some good Turton pressure Ryan Farnworth got a goal back for the home side which seemed to rally them up. Then in injury time, a rash studs up challenge from a Turton defender resulted in him seeing red, leaving Turton down to 10 men. From the resulting free kick stepped up Close, who smashed it home into the top corner for 4-1 and his well deserved hat-trick. But Turton then pressed and managed to get a last gasp goal on the whistle from a dubious off side cross, leaving the final score 4-2 to Eagley in a great local derby and advert for non league football.
This gives the new Managers Coote and Clake two straight opening wins, and after the game Cooty said, ‘It was a great today, the lads worked hard from the off. We had to defend well and dig deep and ride out some good early Turton pressure, which we did, and got the reward. In the second half I thought we looked comfortable and the young lads that played for us were great! Its nice to come up here and win the derby game but we’ll move on now, and take the positives into the next one.’