Lewis On Sport

Darwen fall to defeat at home to Pilkington

Darwen fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Pilkington at The Anchor on Wednesday night, with the visiting side from St Helens maintaining their 100%-record start to the new season as a result.

Pilkington took the lead after just three minutes but failed to widen the gap between themselves and The Salmoners before half time.

An improved Darwen showing in the second half proved to be not enough as far as finding an equaliser was concerned and Pilkington doubled their lead 10 minutes from time.

The away side travelled back to Merseyside with all three points in the bag.

Darwen, looking to bounce back from a 3-0 opening-day loss to Ilkley Town, got the game underway.

The visitors made a bright start and it wasn’t long at all before they took the lead.

Fieldhouse made a good initial save to keep out a close-range effort but the rebound was side-footed home by Christopher Lomax who looked to be offside. 3 minutes gone, 0-1.

Yacin Amarzou went close with a volley after a corner broke to him on the edge of the area.

Darwen needed to calm things down and get a foothold on proceedings, and Kenny Langford’s team did just that – by taking their time on the ball, The Reds slowed the fast tempo that the away side had dictated the game with since kick-off.

As the half wore on, the game developed into a very even affair, although neither side was creating any clear-cut opportunities.

When Pilkington finally ended the drought of chances, Christopher Lomax leaned back and lifted his sweeping effort at the front-post way over the bar.

As the interval approached, there was a growing sense that Darwen would have to take more risks in the second half if they were to get anything from the game. Everything felt too safe and too static.

HALF TIME: DARWEN 0-1 PILKINGTON

SECOND HALF

The away side started the second 45 brightly, forcing an albeit comfortable save out of Fieldhouse.

Pilkington had the ball in the back of the net again – their skipper and number 9 Adam Gilchrist poked the ball past Fieldhouse from a corner only to be denied by the offside flag.

Moments later, Darwen’s best chance of the contest up to this point was somehow kept out at full-stretch by Jake Hilton in the Pilkington goal – Carmichael’s wait for his first competitive goal for Darwen went on, and the score line remained 0-1.

It looked as if Darwen were coming closer to an equalising goal when curling effort from range went narrowly wide of the right upright.

Chances for The Salmoners after this were all too few and far between, however.

A mix-up in the Darwen backline almost led to a second goal, Amarzou would have been bitterly disappointed to not seal the points at such a crucial stage in the game.

The team in green wouldn’t have to wait much longer to have their position in the contest assured, however, as with 10 minutes to go, a deep corner from the left found the head of Andy Presho at the back post. Fieldhouse was left with no chance. 0-2.

After adding a second, the away side – unsurprisingly – seemed happy just to knock the ball about and wind the clock down.

With a matter of seconds remaining, Fieldhouse did well to stand firm and block what would have been a third for Pilkington when Lomax burned his man and burst through on goal.

FULL TIME: DARWEN 0-2 PILKINGTON

ATT: 192

THE TEAMS

DARWEN

STARTING XI

1. Lenny Fieldhouse

2. Joshua Aspinall

3. Gary Basterfield

4. Christopher Lynch

5. Nathan Bond ©

6. David Lynch

7. Billy Flitcroft

8. Rio Wilson-Heyes

9. Joe Almond

10. Alfie Carmichael

11. Sandro Da Costa

SUBSTITUTES

12. David Lang

14. Clayton Gorman

15. Bobby Langford

PILKINGTON

STARTING XI

1. Jake Hilton

2. Andrew Presho

3. Adam Lawrence

4. Marcus Giglio

5. Gary Kenny

6. Bruno De Almeida Severino

7. Yacin Amarzou

8. Anis Zaknoune

9. Adam Gilchrist ©

10. Christopher Lomax

11. Bebeto Gomes

SUBSTITUTES

12. Matthew Chan

14. Ryan Sinnott

15. Callum Laird

16. Liam Paton