REPORT BY WINNERS LAD

For the 5th time in 8 years Leek Town failed at one of the final hurdles in their quest for promotion when they were soundly beaten in the Pitching In Northern Premier League West Division playoff semi-final by a far superior Runcorn Linnets side on the night, never really recovering from the shock of going 2 goals behind in the opening 4 mins. of the game.

Manager Neil Baker named an unchanged line up and stuck to the 5-3-2 formation that had turned in such an impressive performance at Marine just 3 days beforehand but the normally solid Blues defence were ripped apart time and again by man of the match Iwan Murray and the division's top goalscorer Ryan Brooke.

The first goal must surely be a play off record as it came on just 35 seconds. Runcorn made their intentions for an opening move clear at the kick off by overloading the right hand side of the pitch and as the ball was immediately lofted forward on that side the Leek defence failed to deal with it and missed a couple of opportunities to clear their lines before the ball eventually got laid into the path of Murray inside the area and his first time effort was low and beyond Danny Roberts.

From the restart a stunned Leek side immediately lost possession and the ball was fed to Brooke who tried his luck from 30yds and saw his effort only just clear Roberts crossbar. He came even closer on 3 mins when a mistake from Scott Wara, failing to control a ball played forward, allowed Brooke to dispossess him and bear down on goal but Roberts pulled off a great save pushing the ball away for a corner.

Brooke was not to be denied a third time, however, as the dazed Blues defence failed to react to the quickly taken short corner and in a 3 pass move that looked rehearsed Brooke was able to fire low beyond Roberts to make it 2-0 for the visitors with just 4mins on the clock.

With such a short time played there was clearly enough time for Leek to get back into the game but they needed to settle quickly. There was some signs of promise on 6mins when Daniel Trickett-Smith broke away down the right, resulting in Tim Grices effort from 14yds being blocked by the Runcorn defence, and then on 11mins there was a strong appeal for a Runcorn handball in the box during a scramble from a Leek corner before Josh Ryder saw his goal bound effort blocked on the goal line by Mooney.

The Blues defence were cut apart again on 14mins with Murray instrumental as a reverse ball played in Joe Lynch down the Leek left and Roberts was forced into another fine save to keep the Blues in the game.

After 20 mins, with the current formation not working, Baker switched to a 4-4-2 pushing Ammar Dyer further forward and the Blues began to have a better spell in the game with Dyer and Tom Edge working a couple of openings with Edge putting in a couple of good crosses to test the Runcorn defence, the second of which found Louis Keenan at the far post whose header was unfortunately into the side netting.

The pivotal moment of the game probably came on 25 mins. As Dyer raced onto a ball played over the Runcorn defence keeper Mooney came to clear just outside the area and only succeeded in heading the ball to Trickett-Smith. However the Leek forwards lob towards the empty goal curled wide of post when you would have expected a player of his quality to hit the target.

At 2-1 and with the Blues starting to get into their stride the game would certainly have been on but, as it so often turns out in such moments, Runcorn took advantage of the situation and made it 3-0 when Lloyd Marsh-Hughes finished a fine move down the right with a shot in off the post to effectively kill off the game after just 35mins.

And it could have been much worse for Leek as Runcorn, continuing to look dangerous every time they came forward, carved out 2 further chances before the break seeing a shot well blocked inside the area and another effort that was again just over Roberts bar.

HT LEEK TOWN 0 - RUNCORN LINNETS 3

A further tactical change saw the Blues start the second half in a 4-3-3 formation with Dyer pushed even further forward but if the bumper crowd of 1381 were expecting an Istanbul style Leek comeback onslaught it just didn't materialise at all with the Blues failing to get any kind of steam up going forward and, once again, it was the visitors who came closest to scoring when on 55mins Murray burst forward and drew in the Leek defenders before playing in Lynch who fired just over.

On 62 mins Baker made his first substitution of the game, withdrawing the out of sorts Wara and bringing on forward Will Saxon in an attacking move with obviously nothing to lose. The move had an immediate impact as, just 2mins later, with Saxons first touch of the game he cut in past the Runcorn full back down the left and found Grice in the area who managed to swivel and hit a rather scuffed effort but it was still enough to deceive Mooney and go in off the post to make it 3-1 and give the Blues a glimmer of hope with over 25mins remaining.

It was to prove a false hope, however, as the Blues were unable to fashion anything decisive with only half chances coming from a Trickett-Smith header and a Grice overhead kick that were comfortably saved by Mooney before Runcorn reasserted their authority on the game with the final goal of the night on 78mins.

Murray was once again the danger and won a corner on the left, which he went over to take with the large and vocal Runcorn support behind the goal rightfully applauding his contribution so far, and he rewarded them further with a whipped in delivery that found Brooke whose header flew into the net to make it game, set and match to the Linnets.

FT LEEK TOWN 1 - 4 RUNCORN LINNETS

So an extremely disappointing night and end to the season for Leek compounded with the news that, had they won, they would have had a home tie in the playoff final due to Marines late victory at Workington. But full credit and congratulations must go to a Runcorn side who have beaten the Blues on all 3 occasions they've met this season (the only side to do so) and, based on this display, must now be favourites for the final themselves.

Leek Town line up as follows

1. Roberts

2. Wara replaced by Saxon (62)

3. Keenan

4. Grocott replaced by Malbon (80)

5. Harrison

6. Ryder

7. Edge

8. Reeves (c)

9. Grice

10. Trickett-Smith replaced by Saxon (77)

11. Dyer

Substitutes : Booth, Davidson, Short (unused)

Attendance : 1381