Ramsbottom were looking to carry their good performance from Tuesday night into this one after only picking 1 point up from their previous 10 games on the road. In contrast the hosts were unbeaten in their last 10 games, having won 9 of them. Before kick off Ramsbottom sat 16th in the table whilst Leek were flying high in 4th.

The home side started the quicker of the two sides and dominated the ball and the chances for the opening 10 minutes. The pressure soon paid dividends when Tim Grice put Leek ahead on 12 minutes. Grice took full advantage of a mistake from skipper Jamie Rother when his clearances deflected into his path to put him through on goal. The Leek number nine calmly slotted it past the outstretched Tom Stewart.

The goal seemed to give the Rams a bit of a wake up call and they slowly began to get themselves into the game, creating more and more chances on the break. Then on 27 minutes Domaine Rouse held the ball superbly and knocked it to Jack Grimshaw who was waiting on the edge of the box to volley it into the bottom corner leaving the keeper with absolutely no chance.

Just as the game seemed to be swinging the way of Ramsbottom ever so slightly, Seydou Bamba was seen to have committed a foul inside his own area for a soft challenge but a penalty was given. Josh Ryder stepped up to take but Tom Stewart was once again the hero for Rammy with a superb save from the spot.

The second half began in similar vein to how the first had ended with both teams battling for everything and both creating half chances.

Ramsbottom were starting to build momentum midway through the second 45, with Billy Hasler-Cregg going close on a couple of occasions and John Murphy being inches off a wonderful ball into the box.

On 77 minutes Leek broke quickly and snatched an extremally fortunate second. The initial effort from the home side was saved well by Stewart but his save ricocheted off the head Luke Barlow and fell to the feet of Lewis Short who was lurking at the back post.

The visitors created a few more chances with Jamie Rother and Domaine Rouse close to levelling things up, but it just wasn’t to be for the Rams. The whole team can definitely be proud of the effort they put in against a strong promotion pushing Leek Town.

Ramsbottom’s next game sees them go up against Prescot Cables at home on Saturday 12th March.