ON a glorious day the only thing that was shining for Billinge FC was the sun as they suffered a 2-0 home defeat against Knutsford.

The Storks were missing key players - through injury and holidays - but that was no excuse for a lacklustre display where nothing went right.

The visitors started the better and Joseph Boone had a 20-yard shot deflected away for a corner on eight minutes.

Four minutes later the lively striker went one better when he picked up a loose Billinge pass from Aaron Bowen, moved forward and hit a superb shot past Billinge's keeper Joe Williams to make it 1-0.

The Claret and Blues responded well but struggled to make any clear cut chances with most efforts coming from distance through Liam Fitzgerald and John Humphreys as the half finished with Knutsford leading.

The second period followed a similar pattern with The Storks' only early chance coming on 49 minutes when Humphreys threaded a superb ball through to Rob Lamont whose first-time shot hit the side netting.

On 62 minutes the visitors doubled their lead when they went the length of the pitch before Joe Holt slotted from close range.

Billinge tried to get back into the game but it was just one of those games where nothing went right.

The nearest they came was in the 88th minute when Richie Allen had a shot from six yards saved by the Knutsford keeper.

After the game Billinge's manager Wayne Wardle said: "It was a collectively poor performance by The Storks today.

"This season was always going to be tough and today proved it, but we win as a team and lose as a team.

"We'll dust ourselves down and go again next week when we have a home derby against Winstanley Warriors."

The opposition nominated Billinge’s 17-year-old right-back Adam Idowu as their man-of-the-match.

On the left hand side 19-year-old Adin Miklos came on for his first team debut and didn’t look out of place while keeper Williams kept the score down with some fine saves.