LANCASTER battled their way back from two goals down to win this five goal thriller. Bamber Bridge were cruising and the match seemed dead with half an hour left. But ten dramatic minutes and three excellent goals later and it was Lancaster who were bossing the game. "We were poor in the first half and had nothing to lose in the second," said Blues' manager Alan Tinsley (pictured). "But when that first goal went in the whole match changed. It was entertaining but we've got to try and stop conceding goals"

The scorer of that first city goal Peter Thomson is on fire at the moment with an incredible strike-rate of five goals in his last three games. Thomson controlled the ball on the edge of the area and drilled a low shot through a crowded penalty area in the bottom corner on 58 minutes.

That galvanised battling City even more and it was no more than they deserved when they equalised with a first rate Stuart Diggle goal ten minutes later. Diggle showed commensurate skill after his first shot from close range was parried by the keeper. He controlled the ball well from the rebound, steadied himself and cleverly placed it past the keeper.

Five minutes later and the ground erupted when Lancaster were awarded a penalty after a powerful run by Dean Martin was stopped unfairly in the box. Up stepped hero of the match Thomson to bang the ball home and put his team in front.

Bamber didn't have a look in after that but the moment of the game still belonged to them when they scored one of the best goals to grace the Giant axe for a long time.

Lee Sculpher held the ball on the touchline of the left wing, then played a one-two with Marc Green. With perfect passing they single-handedly tore through the entire midfield and then Sculpher beat the Lancaster defence with a stinging cross to Peter Smith who coolly kicked it beyond Thornley.

Bamber made it 2-0 when Mark Thornley was penalised for bringing down Peter Smith in the penalty area. Stuart Cliff stepped up for the penalty and placed it to Thornley's left to double their lead.

City's next match is home against Frickley Athletic on Saturday 19th, kick-off 3pm. Lancaster 3 Bamber Bridge 2

Team: Thornley, Curwen, Graham, Udall, Baldwin (c), Parkinson (Lang 86), Lee (Cheal 62), Flannery, Diggle, Thomson, Martin.

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