Recap
A return debut was given to Wayne Whitfield as Bishops looked to get back to winning ways against relegation-threatened Liversedge. Gary Martin saw an opportunity in the fourth minute with a shot from near the centre circle which beat the home keeper only to roll off the post and to safety.
The home side, playing in their orange change strip, almost went ahead when a header was guided just wide. Large parts of the opening half were scrappy with the ball spending a lot of time in the air, but on the rare occasion, that Bishops managed to get the ball down on the floor the home defence was opened up – on the stroke of halftime Martin fed Johnson who beat the keeper only for Howard to force the ball over the line from an offside position.
The second half started with heavy clouds hanging overhead and Liversedge had a ‘goal’ also ruled out for offside before the rain began to hammer down. Just past the hour mark Haase delivered an inch-perfect cross from the right and May rose to head into the corner giving the keeper no chance. Just minutes later a through ball skidded off the drenched surface and Whitfield was taken out by Jackson, the home stopper given a straight red card for the offence.
By the 77th minute, there were real concerns the referee may halt proceedings such as the build-up of puddles on parts of the pitch, but this didn’t stop Bishops’ going into a two-goal lead when replacement keeper Hadi failed to gather the ball and Hargrave set up Johnson to fire home.
With the game seemingly now beyond the stage where it could get called off Norton produced a fine diving save down to his left to keep out a home effort and the remaining six minutes passed without incident which saw the two blues win for the first time in nine games.
Match report by Gavin Hadden
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