AFC Liverpool v Barnoldswick Town, 30th January 2024

After deciding against buying some grub at the food hut, and making do with a galaxy chocolate bar, I made my way up to the Crossendar Road End. Firstly I had a little chat with Mike Richmond on the half way line, before joining up with the ultras behind the goal. Due to working till 7pm, I was not on the turnstile that evening and Chris Dace was surprised to see me sneak in with 10 minutes on the clock. As I turned round, "Alex" Tanaka Cherera was on hand to thump home a flowing move to give us the lead.

As the rest of the first half developed, both teams had good spells. It was anybody's game. But around the 25 minute mark, a goalmouth scramble ensued in the Barlick area after a corner. They cleared it off the line, and we also hit the post. On the 45th minute we got into a good position down the right, and played a dangerous ball across the area, and then the ball got turned into his own net by the Barnoldswick number 4. We were 2-0 up going into half time, and looking very good for our first win in nine games. But then the visitors went straight up the other end and scored, and it was 2-1 at the interval.

After the restart, the momentum did not switch though to the visitors. Alex, who was playing in the West Cheshire League at weekends, was very tasty indeed. It was he who went on a breakaway run into the box just before the hour, he lost two markers before placing it past Callum Jakovlevs in the Barlick goal to make it 3-1. This was after a spell where we hit the woodwork a couple of times and forced some good saves from the keeper.

Straightaway, Barlick went up the other end again and scored again. This time the linesman's flag intervened. Soon we were creating more chances, but not making the most of them. And then just before the 70th minute mark, the visitors once more got back within a goal of us after a cross was met by a header. 

This was the first season where we had actually managed a victory at Barnoldswick, having played well there on previous occasions, even being pegged back by late equalisers on a couple of occasions. So this game did present us with a first opportunity to complete a double over Barnoldwick, and for a few minutes it seemed that we had a real battle on, especially as another Barnoldswick attack needed repelling.

But then on 75 minutes, substitute Liam Paton (who had scored a couple up at Barnoldswick) went on a mazy run and then beat the Keeper at his near post, and we had a two-goal cushion once again. This time, there was no comeback, and into injury time we even managed to get a couple more as Liam Paton once more got on the scoresheet, as well as substitute Brad Shearwood, after a through ball from that man Alex. For a couple of minutes, we were even dreaming of a 7th! We did bellow out chants of "can we play you every week!"

The result put us up to 16th, and 18 points clear of bottom of the table Skelmersdale United with a game in hand. We surely now had done enough to avoid relegation.

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