ST HELENS Town AFC ended their prolonged quest for a win on Saturday, with a thoroughly deserved victory at Ruskin Drive over the league leaders Golcar United.
Town went into the game without a win this season, with few outsiders expecting a result against the strong Yorkshire side.
It looked to be going to form after six minutes when the visitors took the lead at a poorly defended corner.
The hosts responded well though, and dominated the rest of the first half, despite trailing 1-0.
The second period began with Town pushing hard for the equaliser, only to see Golcar extend their lead on the break in the 68th minute.
St Helens rallied and began to dominate again, and visiting keeper Harry Stead made a string of fine saves amidst some desperate defending.
Town eventually found their way back in less-than-spectacular fashion.
Their pressure led to a string of corners, and a good delivery from Jamie Apperley broke to striker Elliot Hughes who managed to bundle the ball home despite the scrambling defenders.
The breakthrough bred confidence and the Town pressure intensified.
Another Apperley corner set up Hughes for a more convincing effort, too powerful for the Golcar defence to keep out.
The closing minutes saw one way traffic, and yet another corner broke to centre-back David Thompson who fired in emphatically in the 92nd minute, finishing a remarkable Town comeback.
Team Manager Dave Platt said: “I’m absolutely made up to be able to deliver that result for everyone involved with the club. It’s been a tough period so to finally get the win, and against the top of the league team no less, feels amazing.
Jamie Apperley
"There’s no doubt we deserved the result. Having missed a host of chances, some of which would have been special team goals, we ended up scoring three ugly goals, but maybe that’s what we needed - a bit of ugly - something to build that character to go with the ability we’ve shown the last few weeks.
"The important thing now is to kick on and make sure that’s not a one off.”
Town travel to AFC Darwen this Saturday, before a home game against Steeton on 11 December.
Pictures: Stanley Castrogiovanni
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