OTS – 14th OCTOBER
Time to look back once again at what happened on the equivalent Saturday in our non-league history and today is Saturday 14 October.
2017 – SKELMERSDALE UNITED 3 RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 2
Northern Premier League Division 1 North
Having been one of the early pace setters in the division and were up to second in the fledgling table, Mark Fell’s Rams slide down to the table continued with a fifth defeat in seven when beaten 3-2 by Skelmersdale United – yet another defeat on the road!
It was a much changed Rams XI showing four changes from the win over Colwyn Bay a week ago. Grant Spencer made his 200th appearance for the club and there was a start for the recently re-signed Phil Dean and for Preston loan signing Thomas Stead.
It took the away side just quarter of an hour to open the scoring when Jerome Wright’s free kick found an unmarked Heathcote to place a flying head into the top corner for his fifth goal of the season.
But Skem responded just five minutes later. A free kick on the edge of the box was hit towards goal but was adjudged to have struck a hand in the visitors’ wall and the referee gave a penalty which striker Andrew Owens gave Danny Taberner no chance into the top corner.
The Rams hit the front again almost immediately when a strong run and cross from Wright wasn’t cleared by the home defence and the ball fell to Greg Daniels who confidently finished to make it three goals in the space of just five minutes.
Before the half time whistle came and the visitors getting frustrated by some perceived injustices from the officials, Owens wriggled free of the Rammy defence before sliding a pass through to Mahoney who fired low into the net for an interval 2-2 scoreline.
The second half was not showing much in the way of the goal opportunities with only Dean’s effort and Taberner pulling off a fine save to keep the scores level with fifteen minutes remaining.
Sadly though, it was the hosts who grabbed the fifth and final goal of the contest on 80 minutes when a superbly struck free kick from the edge of the box from Owens found the top corner.
Fell threw on some attacking reinforcements but it wasn’t to be and the Rams left empty handed and with a record of just two points from six on their travels in this season.
The manager admitted, “It was the low point in the season for me, we can talk about the if’s and but’s, Greg’s open goal miss first half, Wiz’s chance, Spenny’s chance, the truly abysmal officials, but fact is if you don’t take your chances you are always susceptible to a set play, an unlucky bounce, a mistake – and we are susceptible to all of thoses.”
Ramsbottom United: Taberner, L.Brownhill, K.Brownhill, Meaney (Brooks 67mins), Heathcote, Stead, Dean, Moran(Kneifio-Okai 81mins), Spencer (Rother 81mins) ,Daniels, Wright. Subs not used: Ashburner, Williams
2006 – ABBEY HEY 0 RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 1
North West Counties League Division 1
(report from Lancashire Telegraph)
The Rams shrugged off their midweek disappointment of losing to Fleetwood by maintaining their excellent league form with a win at Abbey Hey.
Both sides had chances early on but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock.
A defensive mix up between the Abbey Hey defence and their keeper saw the ball bounce in front of Ryan Moore, who managed to hit a half-volley with his back to goal over the stranded keeper.
Moore could have put the game beyond the hosts with two good chances before the break but he wasn’t able to convert either.
Abbey came back after the break but Ramsbottom were good value for their victory.
2000 – RAMSBOTTOM UNITED v NANTWICH TOWN
North West Counties League Division One
The match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, which maybe wasn’t such a bad thing with the Rams suffering a few injury doubts.
Centre back Dave Roach faced a three month lay-off after a specialist ordered him to take complete rest to help cure his longstanding groin problem. And wing-back Mike Langhorn faced a third operation on his broken nose.
One glimmer of hope was that David Yorke-Robinson was likely to be back in contention after his knee injury … not that it mattered in the end as the weather had the final say.
1995 – MAGHULL 0 RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 2
North West Counties League Division Two
(report from Rossendale Free Press)
Brothers Carl and Paul Stanley grabbed both of Ramsbottom’s goals in the 2-0 victory over Maghull.
Carl was replacing injured Steve Johnosn in the forward line, and according to manager Ken Bridge, had a great game.
He was substituted on the hour to give Paul a chance and he promptly secured the victory with a fine effort.
The result moved the Rams into ninth place, leapfrogging the Liverpool opponents – having played 12 games, winning 3 and losing four with five draws and a total of 14 points, some five behind Atherton in eighth but they had only played seven games!
