North West Counties Football League Division One South

FC Oswestry Town 2

Abbey Hulton United 1

FC OSWESTRY Town left it late to take the three points and climb to third place as they beat Abbey Hulton United.

A quiet start to the game was followed by an eventful second half with all three goals coming in the final 20 minutes.

United went ahead when Shaun Rhodes fired home for the visitors in the 71st minute.

However, a late penalty and a 97th minute goal from substitute Samuel Spridgeon gave the hosts three points.

A nice start to the afternoon saw Town awarded with the Macron Club of the Month award after their recent good form.

The visiting side were not phased by the in-form Town side and started the game well with a handful of chances.

United’s first chance of note came after eight minutes when Nathan Grice met a corner and fired his header narrowly over the bar.

They kept the pressure on the Oswestry side and came close again after 20 minutes when Lee Cropper fired an effort goalwards which was stopped well by Mason Springthorpe.

Harry Bower came closest for Town with a strike that didn’t cause too much trouble for Jacob Holding in the United goal.

Another attempt at goal by United came when Joshua Tune headed goalwards, but again Springthorpe was able to keep the score at 0-0.

It wasn’t until after the break the game began to liven up – a number of half-chances for both sides highlighted the good attacking play at either end of the pitch.

After 70 minutes of play, United broke the deadlock through Rhodes. Corners had proved to be a problem for Town a few times throughout the game, and they paid the price when they failed to deal with the delivery and Rhodes fired into the net with a strong header.

The goal seemed to shock Town into action as they started taking the game to the visiting side.

Bower broke through five minutes after Town conceded, but the woodwork prevented him from getting his name on the scoresheet.

Town had United pinned back in their own half and continued pushing for an equaliser with time running out.

It wasn’t until the 89th minute that Town had any luck finding the important goal.

A foul by Curtis Price in the box saw the referee point to the spot and up stepped Liam Parry to fire his effort into the right of the net off the post.

Town weren’t finished however, and continued pushing for a second goal to take what would be a very important win.

With a lot of added time after the late penalty and second half injuries, Town were edging close to a winner.

Parry almost grabbed his second goal of the game in the 96th minute but it flew narrowly wide.

Just a minute later, with what was almost the last kick of the game, Spridgeon broke through and found the net much to the delight of the home fans.

The referee blew the whistle and the three points went to the hosts.

Town now sit third in the table, two points behind Stone Old Alleynians in second with a game in hand.

Their next fixture is on Saturday when they travel to face first-placed Rylands in a huge top-of-the-table clash.