ON A pitch made heavy by overnight rain the first half of the game developed into a midfield battle with neither side able to dominate.

The first real chance of the game came in the 23rd minute when Rossendale's Chris Brooks muscled Kay off the ball but his shot was saved by Hurst in the Radcliffe goal when the ball hit his legs.

Three minutes later Brooks again came out the better with a battle with Kay but a weak lob enabled the keeper to clear the danger.

Radcliffe included ex-Rossendale favourite Jody Banim in their line-up and he forced a great save from Gillies before opening the scoring in the 35th minute when he side-stepped two defenders and gave the keeper no chance with a low shot into the corner of the net.

Rossendale's Gary Williams thought he had levelled the scores in the 40th minute but a highly dubious offside decision by the officials ensured Radcliffe held on to their lead at half time.

Rossendale began the second half in a determined manner and were rewarded in the 53rd minute when Carl Stanford was put clear and he calmly placed the ball past the keeper to level the scores. Both sides were going forward looking for the winner and it came in the 65th minute when Spencer's diving header from a left wing cross beat the diving Gillies in the Rossendale goal.

Stanford came close to levelling the scores in the 72nd minute when he turned in the box and curled his shot just over the angle of the post and bar. Rossendale kept pressing forward looking for an equaliser, but a mixture of dogged defending and a little luck saw Radcliffe hang on to take the three points.