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Saturday 18th February - Frickley Athletic  1-0  Runcorn FC Halton

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Martyn Woolford scored the 31st minute winner which saw the Blues overcome Runcorn FC Halton at the Millennium Worldwide Stadium this afternoon. However, the Blues faced a tough second 45 minutes after having Nicky Heinemann dismissed following a rash challenge on the stroke of half time whilst both sides had to cope with some strange refereeing decisions.

The win was the Blues seventh consecutive win and lifted the Blues back into second place in the table. 

Gary Marrow restored Simon Collins, Steve Kennedy, Matt Daly, Rob Pell and Martyn Woolford to the starting eleven whilst Chris Adam's impressive display against Chorley last week saw him keep his place on the left with Woolford partnering Pell up front.

Simon Collins had the Blues first chance of the game but his header flew wide following Alex Callery's free-kick on the right after 7 minutes whilst minutes later Adam saw his glancing header around the far post following another Callery free-kick. Kennedy met the resulting corner at the far post but his header struck the outside of the near post and bounced out to Callery but his follow-up shot struck Collins and ricocheted into Holdcroft's arms. Shortly afterwards a great move down the right involving Steve Robinson and Callery saw the latter flick the ball backwards into the path of Woolford who, unfortunately, failed to connect properly on the volley from 15 yards but Robbie Holdcroft was still forced to push Woolford's effort around the post. Runcorn then had their first real attempt at goal but Gary Ingham comfortably saved the 18 yard shot. The referee then set the tone for the rest of the game by booking Rob Pell for an innocuous challenge on Holdcroft on the edge of the Runcorn box but minutes later the Blues took the lead. Pell sent Callery away down the right and he held off the challenge of Mark Phillips to pick out the run of WOOLFORD who slid the ball in from 6 yards. The Blues were dealt a severe blow almost on the stroke of half time when Nicky Heinemann received a straight red card for a rash challenge on Adam Hunter. A straight red seemed rather harsh but, having booked Pell for such a trivial offence earlier it was perhaps no surprise that Mr Lawson showed Heinemann the red.

Half time saw a flurry of changes with Marrow opting to replace Adam with Neil Ashley whilst Robinson moved to left-back and Collins to right-back. Runcorn brought on lee Furlong and Chris Fitzsimmons for Hunter and Locke. With the visitors starting to look threatening Marrow changed the Blues formation again, moving Robinson to the right of midfield to play with a three-man defence with Woolford moving to his more accustomed position on the left. Runcorn's Shaun Whalley then three himself to the ground following a tackle from Lee Pugh inside the penalty area but, surprisingly, the referee failed to caution him. With 72 minutes gone Collins put a 30 yard free-kick just over the bar whilst ten minutes later Lee Pugh saw his 18 yard shot deflected wide of the left hand post. As the game entered stoppage time Woolford won the ball some ten yards outside his own box to ride 4 challenges and bear down on the Runcorn goal but the ball took a wicked bounce as he shaped to shoot but he still managed to force a corner. After the final whistle Runcorn's Lee Siadankay was sent off following an altercation with Andy Evans.