Prescot Cables 2 Bishop Auckland 1

CABLES' superiority over a physical Bishop Auckland side was much greater than the scoreline suggests.

Cables had three throw ins in the opposition half in the opening four minutes but none of them troubled Bishop's defence.

Cables had a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity on 16 minutes when Karl Robinson's header was cleared off the line.

Torpey hit the bar and had a shot saved and his luck did not improve any. Cables supporters rose to celebrate his opening 'goal' on 27 minutes only to hold their heads in disbelief as the ball struck the inside of the post and bounced out to safety.

Once Cables' spell of pressure had ended, the inevitable happened. On 37 minutes the Cables defence failed to clear a goalmouth scramble and Karl Richards shot the visitors into the lead.

The opening minutes of the half were surprisingly uneventful: everyone had expected Cables to come out all guns blazing after finding themselves a goal down despite their superiority.

But then on 61 minutes came the moment that changed the game. Cables were awarded a free kick 25 yards out. Simon Garner put a beautifully measured kick on to David Chadwick's head and the ball ended up in the back of the net to make the score 1-1.

This goal seemed to give Cables the confidence their superiority merited. It was only a further two minutes before Mark Peers' cross found the head of Sam McNutt to make the score 2-1.

Steve Torpey tried hard to increase Cables' lead over the next few minutes, with one cross being saved by the goalkeeper and the other finding Sam McNutt who shot wide.

On 70 minutes the game threatened to turn nasty as Steve Torpey and Kevin Dixon tussled off the ball. Both players ended up in the referee's notebook while the antics of Bishops' defender Brian Rowe went unnoticed and therefore unpunished.

The game ended with Cables worthy 2-1 winners, but the biggest surprise of the day is that the two blues ended the match with 11 men on the pitch.

Man of the match: another close run thing, with Brian Holmes looking very solid in defence.

Sam McNutt was an influential substitution by Tommy Lawson, and if he had played the full 90 minutes he might have earned the award.

But for the second time in as many weeks the award goes to Simon Garner who threatened the Bishops' defence on several occasions and was instrumental in the first goal.