West Kirby move up to 2nd in table

The weather again did it’s worst with the only game to survive in the Carlsberg West Cheshire league being on the G3 pitch at the impressive JMO Sports Park in Skelmersdale, the home of Southport Trinity. Visitors for the afternoon were West Kirby with each team anxious to gain maximum reward for differing reasons. For their part Trinity find themselves just one place above the Division 1 relegation trap door while The Seasiders have their eyes firmly fixed on the league title they have lifted in 4 of the past 6 seasons.
The visitors got off to a dream start when going ahead in the 2nd minute. Forcing successive corners, Kirby striker Mike McGraa found himself with enough room from the 2nd of these to firmly head his side into the lead. The advantage was extended in the 10th minute following a swift counter attack which saw Chris Reilly feed Paul Casey whose deep cross from the left was met by the in-rushing Dave Webb who netted with a powerful header. At this point Kirby looked set for a huge win but Trinity fought back with one effort hitting the post. Although McGraa was denied a second by a point blank save, the hosts pulled a goal back 5 minutes before the break when Ben Perdue latched onto a through ball and rounded keeper Dave Pierce before rolling the ball into the net.
Early second half action saw each side exchanging shots on goal with the Casey and Webb combination resulting in Webb firing wide while Pierce saved well from a Trinity free kick. The hour mark was reached with Kirby launching a number of attacks as a Chris Barrow header and a Webb shot almost extended their side’s lead. A Casey corner bounced off the top of the bar and McGraa was just wide after he latched onto Barrow’s neat flick. The visitors survived a scare when Trinity were through on goal but fired over but with 14 minutes remaining The Seasiders clinched victory. Midfielder Terry Cochrane went on a mazy run which took him past 3 opponents before he unselfishly slipped the ball to McGraa and the ex Conway Borough manager added to his ever growing goal tally by firing into the corner of the net. In the absence of manager Ian Thomas, his assistant Gary Washington was in charge of Kirby’s 3-1 victory which elevates them into 2nd spot in the league, some 3 points behind leaders Cammell Laird Reserves with 2 games in hand. Captain Steve Aspinall leads a very experienced West Kirby outfit who have built up a long unbeaten run but are well aware that their main rivals for the title are Heswall who themselves have played 3 games fewer than Kirby and are that many points adrift. In contrast to Saturday’s opponents, who they defeated 3-1 earlier in the season, Trinity can’t buy a win at present and will be looking to improve matters when facing Marine Reserves at home this Saturday.