The Salmoners edged by Bacup in tightly contested Lancashire derby
Darwen fell to 2-0 defeat in a tightly contested Lancashire derby at home to Bacup Borough on Saturday (5 February).
After a goalless and fairly even first half, the visitors came out very much looking to dictate proceedings in the second. And for the most part, that is what they did.
Darwen were under pressure right from the start of the half and fell behind to a deflected strike scored by Bacup captain Michael Gervin in the 51st minute. Lewis-Simon Byrne scored the visitors’ second with just seconds remaining.
The teams walked into, fittingly, very Lancastrian conditions and Darwen got the game underway – a game that would surely have huge implications on their fight for survival.
The Salmoners looked pretty comfortable in possession in the opening couple of minutes.
Ryan Steele had the first effort on goal of the game – a free-kick from the right around 25 yards out. He never really troubled the goalkeeper at his right-hand post, however.
In response, a short free-kick almost resulted in the opening goal for the visitors – somehow nobody got the end of Joshua Walne’s cross from the right.
As the quarter-hour mark approached both teams were looking to stamp some authority on the game.
Bacup were awarded a free-kick in a really good position out on the left-flank. The set piece was whipped in, the heads went up and Holden made a fantastic save down to his right to keep the scores level.
Moments later, Holden had to be on hand to tip an absolute rocket from Callum Hewitt over the bar. The Darwen keeper looked to be on fine form.
A break in play then ensued as a new football was sourced. Chants of “we’ve only got one ball” from the Darwen ultras were arguably the highlight of the half up to this point.
A poor ball out from Borough keeper Henry Turner was picked up by Wilson-Heyes – he went for the chip from around 30 yards out, his audacious effort sailed not far over. Unlucky.
In the 24th minute, Holden was slow off his line to meet a long ball over the top being chased by Borough’s Lewis-Simon Byrne – Luke Jarrold showed defended bravely to clear with his head as the forward tried to finish.
Bacup’s number 3, Bradley Hancock, couldn’t quite go all the way when he went on a brilliant run down the left-hand side.
Kyle Siddle hit the bar for the visitors – the closest that either team had come so far.
Siddle showed some great persistence in taking on and beating two or three Darwen men and winning a free-kick right on the edge of the 18-yard box. Anthony Hall took but could only drive an effort straight into the Darwen wall.
HALF TIME: DARWEN 0-0 BACUP BOROUGH
Bacup Borough had probably just edged a very intriguing first 45.
SECOND HALF
The second half began with a pretty uneventful opening few minutes.
Kyle Siddle had the first chance of the half for either side and won the corner that the away side took the lead from. Their skipper, Michael Gervin, was the scorer with a strike from the edge of the area. It was harsh on Darwen – the ball took a wicked deflection on its way past Holden and nestled in the left corner. 0-1. 51 minutes on the clock.
Holden then made a good save to keep out a close-range effort – the visitors had definitely had the best of the second half up to this point.
Langford kept a close-range attempt out on the line – at this point it was all Bacup and Darwen were backs against the wall.
With 65 minutes gone, the referee gave the visitors what looked to be a pretty soft penalty. To Darwen’s relief, Ryan Siddle put the spot-kick wide of Holden’s left-hand post. A great opportunity for Bacup to put the game to bed had gone begging.
Creech went down in the box under a challenge from the Borough keeper but the referee was unmoved by appeals for a penalty.
Darwen went in search of an equaliser but didn’t really create too many clear-cut chances.
Goal-scorer Michael Gervin went close from around 25 yards out – the closest the visitors have come since their early-in-the-half flurry subsided.
A rare chance for Darwen fell the way of Entwistle then smashed over at the back (left-hand) post.
Brent Peters’ side were still in the lead as the game entered its last quarter of an hour, and it was looking pretty likely that they were going to take all three points.
There was a break in play with 10 to go as Kyle Siddle received some treatment.
His brother, Ryan, then forced a good save out of Holden who had without doubt kept Darwen in this one up to this point.
With five minutes of normal time remaining, a cross from the right was agonisingly missed by both Creech and Steele. Any sort of connection from either would surely have seen Darwen level.
With seconds remaining, with frustrations at boiling point, skipper Ben Langford was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.
With the away side now taking advantage of the imbalance in numbers, Lewis-Simon Byrne jerked past a couple of Darwen defenders and Holden before slotting home to make it two right at the death.
FULL TIME: DARWEN 0-2 BACUP BOROUGH
The Salmoners travel to league-leaders Bury AFC on Saturday (12 February) for their next league encounter.
ATT: 188
THE TEAMS
DARWEN
STARTING XI
1. Stefan Holden
2. Lewis Cumpsty
3. Thomas Entwistle
4. Christopher Lynch
5. Luke Jarrold
6. Billy Flitcroft
7. Ben Langford ©
8. Sam Knowles
9. Leon Creech
10. Ryan Steele
11. Rio Wilson-Heyes
SUBSTITUTES
12. Enoch Takpe
14. Joseph Collins
15. Sheikh Islam
16. Clayton Gorman
BACUP BOROUGH
STARTING XI
1. Henry Turner
2. Joshua Walne
3. Bradley Hancock
4. Joseph Fallon
5. Daniel Warren
6. Callum Hewitt
7. Kyle Siddle
8. Ryan Siddle
9. Lewis-Simon Byrne
10. Michael Gervin ©
11. Anthony Hall
SUBSTITUTES
12. Alex Mellor
14. Aidan Hussey
15. Callum Barton
16. Jacob Godsman-Pilling
17. Jack Howard
Lewis On Sport 
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