ST HELENS Town put up a brave performance against City of Liverpool FC at Prescot on Thursday, holding out the visitors until 12 minutes from time, but then succumbed to a 3-0 defeat that rather flattered the new team who have been among the leaders in the division all season.

There was little to choose between the sides throughout the first half and Town had a good shout for a penalty turned down for hand ball in the opening exchanges of the second half but as the match wore on, the home side’s penalty area came under a state of siege as wave upon wave of attack threatened Town’s goal and after 78 minutes, a scrappy goal from William Webb broke the deadlock, giving City of Liverpool an inevitable lead.

Still, Town refused to bow the knee and they set off to try to score an equaliser and went close through captain Andy Gillespie.

Five minutes from time, Michael Roberts scored a spectacular second goal to put the tie beyond Town’s reach and, with the last move of the match, substitute John Connolly netted a third which gave the scoreline a rather comfortable look to send City of Liverpool through to a two-legged semi-final where they will face Widnes. St Helens took some consolation from a season’s high attendance of 243 on a cold, damp night, which surely augurs well for the league fixture on Easter Sunday at Ruskin Drive.

Saturday’s return to league action saw St Helens make the short trip to Edge Green Street where they took on basement club Ashton Town and they came away with all three points after a 2-0 victory, their fourth league win in succession, sending them to 11th place in the First Division table.

However, they made hard work of the victory.

Assistant coach and captain Andy Gillespie dropped himself to the bench to give Will Threlkeld much-needed game time but although the forward-line enjoyed a lot of possession, they encountered a goalkeeper, Jon Leggott, in tremendous form, and a resolute defence which never gave up.

Danny Greene and Luke Edwards were in great form on the wings and provided plenty of quality crosses and Greene in particular set up both goals, feeding Edwards from a corner for the first goal on 21 minutes, then from close quarters for Dale Korie-Butler seven minutes later, who smashed the ball past Leggott into the Ashton net.

Try as they might, however, St Helens could not score any more goals and the second half produced nothing worthy of mention by way of shots on target, whilst Gage Walsh in the away goal pulled off a number of saves to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment of last season’s 4-4 draw, alongside a 0-1 home defeat, which eventually cost Town a play-off place.

Town take on Bacup Borough at Prescot on Saturday in another First Division game (kick-off 3pm), hoping to better their 1-1 draw at West View in October, the start of their current five match unbeaten run in the league.

They led for much of that game, only to concede a goal in the last minute of a turbulent clash, which saw multiple bookings, a sending off for Bacup and two dismissals from the home bench.

Next up is a trip to the much-improved Whitchurch Alport on Saturday, 17 December, which is scheduled to be the last game before Christmas.