Squires Gate 2 Burscough 4: First-half treble puts Gate on the back foot

With Gate looking to hit back after last week’s defeat to Bootle, Luke Evans tweaked his team by bringing in Ryan Dodd and Jamie Ramwell for Sam Staunton-Turner and Dec Baldwin.

Dean Ing, meanwhile, dropped back into midfield with Josh Westwood captaining the side.

It was the visitors who had the first sight of goal with winger Taylor Brickell shooting just wide from the edge of the area inside three minutes.

A volley from Chris Lomax was then deflected over the bar, followed by Jack Kay heading off target from close range.

Burscough’s early dominance was to pay off significantly as they netted three times in a little more than quarter of an hour.

The first goal came on 18 minutes when Brickell intercepted a clearance from Gate keeper Jordan Gidley and passed the ball into the empty net from outside the box.

Brickell then doubled his tally 10 minutes later with a stunning strike from distance, picking up the ball on the left-hand side and giving Gidley no chance by curling a powerful effort into the top corner.

The third came on 34 minutes as a dangerous corner was flicked into his own goal by a Gate defender.

Gate came close to getting one back before the break on a couple of occasions, firstly when James Boyd blazed over and then when Ing headed a free-kick wide from a tight angle.

The second half started slowly, though Burscough had another chance on 53 minutes but Gidley comfortably saved Josh Quarless’ attempted lob.

Elliot Pond made way for Josh Pollard on 59 minutes but Gate struggled to create any real threat with the visitors constantly winning back the ball in the middle of the park.

They did, however, pull a goal back on 69 minutes when Ing and Boyd were denied from close range but Jake Higham eventually fired home.

At the other end, Brickell missed a golden opportunity to complete his hat-trick when he fired over from close range after Quarless had got behind the Gate defence.

They did score a fourth on 80 minutes though when Cameron Gourley was deemed to have committed a foul inside the area, Luke Denson slotting the spot-kick past Gidley.

It was Gate who had the last word in added time when Kieran Feeney scored their second goal with a clinical finish into the bottom corner.

Squires Gate: Gidley, Ridings, Higham, Dodd, Westwood, Gourley, Ramwell, Feeney, Pond, Ing, Boyd. Subs: Staunton-Turner, Pollard, Haworth, Baldwin, Iley.

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