Great Harwood Town 1 Radcliffe Borough 2

HARWOOD'S chances of beating the drop were left in tatters after two fluke goals settled this dour contest.

The Reds started off with the confidence of a side on a four game unbeaten run but a double whammy either side of half time knocked the stuffing out of Denis Underwood's men.

It was all Harwood in the opening exchanges and they surged ahead on seven minutes thanks to Dave Bennett's debut goal for the club.

Graeme Lightbown's corner was flicked on by Jonathan Smith and Bennett blasted home from 10 yards after Neil Baron had laid the ball off.

Lightbown and Mark Walsh both fired over before Reds keeper Andy Johnston blocked Simon Carden's stinging shot.

And Borough keeper Steve Berryman got in on the act with a super stop to keep out another Walsh thunderbolt.

But the visitors grabbed the equaliser on 36 minutes when Mark Dempsey broke through and slipped the ball to ex-Clitheroe man Paul Mullin whose shot hit a bobble and looped over Johnston.

And Borough doubled their money two minutes into the second half thanks to another slice of luck.

Jonathan Smith was dispossessed as he attempted to clear the danger and Carden hit a speculative effort which hit another bobble and squirmed through Johnston's legs to leave the Harwood keeper red faced.

The rest of the half belonged to the visitors although Smith headed straight at Berryman from a corner late on and a Neil Otley volley struck a defender.

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