THIS match had all the excitement that was expected from two of the top teams in the division.

Curzon mastered conditions slightly better in the first half, playing the long ball to good effect.

Their pressure paid off in the 11 minute when a bad back pass from central defender David Betts allowed Curzon's John Carrick to get behind the defence and score.

After the break Bacup were superior and opened up the Curzon defence with probing runs by Karl Stanley and Stuart Farnell, who was unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet. At the other end goalkeeper Mark Scorcroft was in in fine form for Bacup.

Bacup drew level after 57 minutes, following an attack Mark Rawstron sent over a floating ball that deceived the Curzon defence and finished up in the back of the net.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.