11:41am Thursday 4th March 2010
NINE-man Runcorn came away from a controversial afternoon in Derbyshire with a moral victory despite their game ending in a draw.
After losing Jake Ellis on 50 minutes to his second yellow card and Ross Bain six minutes later to a straight red, Runcorn battled gallantly to take away their hardest fought and most deserved point of the season.
Glossop dominated early possession but failed to turn that into chances.
Runcorn, having soaked up the early pressure, took over and started to cause Glossop problems of their own.
Ellis rounded off a great move on 20 minutes to give Runcorn the lead.
David Dempsey, with options open to him, picked out the right ball to Matthew Atherton who then found Ellis who shot powerfully underneath Matt Cooper in the Glossop goal.
Runcorn finished the half in the ascendancy but just failed to extend their lead. Matthew Atherton and Lloyd Balazs combined to set David Dempsey free, but Dempsey opted for a shot when Atherton appeared to be better placed.
The half came to a close with Runcorn playing some excellent passing football.
The first 11 minutes of the second half saw the game turned on its head. On 50 minutes, Ellis pursued a headed clearance and won the ball in a tackle with Glossop’s Dave Morris. Both players went in hard, Ellis won the ball but was shown a second yellow.
On 54 minutes, Dave Young hacked Matthew Atherton down and was next to see yellow. Ross Bain then caught Morris slightly late and was shown a straight red.
It was backs to the wall time, but in adversity the team battled brilliantly and turned in 34 minutes to be proud of. Phil Priestley pulled off a string of brilliant saves.
When it finally came, Adam Oaks’ 66th minute equaliser was almost irrelevant.
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